Unemployment Inches Up Across the D.C. Region

District's Rate of 10.9 Percent Tops National Average

Unemployment in the District, Maryland and Virginia rose slightly in June, according to new data released yesterday, as high school and college students entering the labor market struggled to find work and as job cuts mounted in higher education and administrative services.

The District's jobless rate increased to 10.9 percent in June from 10.7 percent in May, the highest among the three jurisdictions and above the national average of 9.5 percent. Maryland's rate rose to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent, and Virginia's grew to 7.2 percent from 7.1 percent.

Economic development officials are poring over the data to try to determine what industries have the most promise and what programs might be needed to help put people back to work.

District officials are expanding training programs for workers and firms interested in green projects, saying they hope to spur significant white- and blue-collar job growth as the federal government prepares to spend millions of dollars to make its buildings more energy-efficient.

"This is a huge opportunity to go into a growth industry," said Joseph P. Walsh Jr., director of the city's Department of Employment Services.

Christian S. Johansson, secretary of the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, said his office is seeking ways to better support small businesses, such as removing some regulatory obstacles that inhibit their expansion.

"There are innovative companies that are hiring people and growing," Johansson said. "We want to support that as much as possible."

Virginia officials are seeking to beef up nuclear energy, information technology, and science and research, said Robert W. McClintock Jr., director of research at the state's Economic Development Partnership.

While automobile suppliers have suffered because of the woes of Detroit's Big Three automakers, McClintock said the manufacturing sector will get a boost from a Rolls-Royce jet-engine plant opening in a few years in the southeast Virginia town of Prince George. "There will be 540 jobs in Prince George and another 100 in Northern Virginia where the headquarters is," he said.

In June, the District lost 3,400 jobs in education and health care, according to the city's Department of Employment Services. The District normally experiences an uptick in unemployment this time of year as people working in higher education are furloughed for the summer, but the numbers are elevated this year because many colleges and universities experienced losses in their endowments, Walsh said.

Maryland firms such as HGA Quest, which provides merchandising services to retailers such as Home Depot, suffered as their clients lost business, said Andy Moser, assistant secretary for workforce development at the state's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. The state's administrative services sector lost 3,000 jobs, according to the agency.

William F. Mezger, chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission, attributed the state's higher unemployment rate in part to high school and college students who inundated the labor market looking for jobs.

"Many of them didn't get hired because the summer job market wasn't as good" as it was in the past, he said.