D.C. unemployment climbs to among highest in nation

Unemployment in the District soared to a record high of 11.9 percent in October, according to government data released Friday, ranking it among California, Nevada, Michigan and other states with the highest jobless rates.

The District's jobless rate climbed a half a percentage point in October to reach its highest level in 34 years of record keeping. In Virginia, the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.6 percent, while in Maryland, it rose slightly, to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent.

The data offered a mixed picture of the region, with Maryland and Virginia remaining below the national unemployment rate of 10.2 percent for October and the District continuing to climb above it.

"We see that Maryland and Virginia are benefiting from federal spending -- defense spending accounts for 20 percent of jobs in Virginia," said Stephen S. Fuller, director of the Center for Regional Analysis at George Mason University. "The District is too small to be diversified across the sectors like you'd see at the state levels."

Only five states had higher unemployment rates than the District, including South Carolina at 12.1 percent, California at 12.5 percent and Nevada at 13 percent. Michigan, which has been suffering from the decline of the auto industry and manufacturing, had the highest jobless rate in the nation -- 15.1 percent. Alaska was the only state where the monthly jobless rate grew more than in the District, up 0.6 percentage points.

Joseph P. Walsh Jr., director of D.C.'s Department of Employment Services, said the District's unemployment rate, while high compared to Maryland and Virginia, is more in line with other big cities. For instance, government data from September, the latest month for which city numbers are available, show New York at 10.2 percent unemployment, Chicago at 11.3 percent, Los Angeles at 14 percent and Detroit at 27.9 percent.

The District lost 500 jobs in professional and business services, information technology and construction. At the same time, it added 10,200 jobs in such sectors as education, health services, and leisure and hospitality. Experts attributed the apparent disconnect between the dramatic job growth and the dramatic rise in the unemployment rate to the sources of the data: The jobless rate is based on a household survey of unemployed people, while the jobs data are based on a survey of employers.

Fuller said the District has a high proportion of undereducated, low-skilled people who have been most vulnerable to job cuts. Meanwhile, he said, many of the new, higher-paying, higher-skills jobs in the city are going to people from the suburbs.

"It's a really strange position to have incredible positive news about adding jobs while unemployment is still going up," Walsh said. "It's still pretty obvious that in D.C. and the rest of the country we'll see unemployment at this level for a while."

Virginia employment officials say they think the state's jobless rate peaked in June at 7.1 percent. The government adjusted the September rate downward 0.1 percentage points from the 6.7 percent initially reported one month ago, making it three consecutive months that the rate has remained at 6.6 percent.

"October is normally one of the best months of the year," said William F. Mezger, chief economist for the Virginia Employment Commission, adding that new unemployment claims for the first time this year fell below the level of one year ago. "Schools are back in session, the harvest is going on, contractors are trying to finish up projects for the year before the bad weather sets in, and retailers are getting ready for the holidays."

Officials in Maryland said they think the unemployment rate has leveled off and that they don't expect it to rise much beyond the 7.3 range. Still, they are concerned about a significant decline in the labor force, which indicates that thousands of unemployed people gave up looking for work.

"By and large, the numbers are still good in terms of showing stabilization of the job market in Maryland," said Eric M. Seleznow, executive director of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board.

"Twelve thousand people left the labor force, which means they were discouraged workers," Seleznow added. "People get on unemployment and get can't a job. [They abandon their search] and fall off the labor market radar."