The District currently has the second highest unemployment rate in the nation, about double the national average and more than triple the jobless rate in the surrounding suburbs.

The jobless rate in the District for June and July was 9 percent, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. The national average was 4.5 percent. Although unemployment is generally higher in cities than suburbs, unemployment in suburban Maryland and Northern Virginia is only 2.8 percent, less than one-third the D.C. rate.

The D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES) — responsible for the development and operation of training, education and job counseling for unemployed city residents – has come under severe criticism for failing to get the District’s unemployed adults working.

DOES Deputy Director Daryll Hardy cited a lack of sufficient funding for what he described as many good training programs his department makes available to unemployed residents.

"We have people in our training schools right now, but we certainly don’t have enough money for (helping) everyone," he said.

According to a study completed earlier this year for the control board by the Technical Assistance and Training Corp, DOES funding was cut from $26 million to $15 million in fiscal 1997 and slashed another $6 million in fiscal 1998. Seventy-three staff positions also were eliminated in the current fiscal year.

The study also found DOES had no recognizable mission, couldn’t identify customers, showed little response to customer needs and has an unqualified staff and outdated information systems.

"There are no clear goals for the Department as a whole, nor effective mechanisms for strategic planning or direction-setting," the study said. "The functions of major divisions within the Department are rarely coordinated."

Other issues include inadequate internal communication, obscure, uninviting and crowded locations, and high executive turnover. The agency has had four directors in the past five years.

The control board plans to set up a Workforce Enterprise Board to oversee the agency by October, according to the Management Reform Report to Congress. The board will have two goals:

• implementation of a system of "one-stop career centers," geared toward user-friendly careers services, employment information, job-seeking help and related services to all residents of the District.

• development of effective strategies and services to move welfare recipients into unsubsidized jobs, to be designed and implemented jointly with the Department of Human Services, using a "one-stop" service center configuration with blended staff.

Hardy said the Workforce Enterprise Board is still being set up.

Other job service officials say persistent high unemployment can’t be blamed entirely on the DOES shortcomings. Good jobs simply aren’t available in the city for many of the unemployed who lack college degrees or other highly skilled training, they say.

The hospitality industry, including restaurants and hotels, is one of the leading employers in the District, but local job counselors say most of the jobs available are temporary or part time or, because they are based on tourism, are subject to seasonal fluctuation.

"Employment in D.C. is not steady," said Tonya Love, an unemployment benefits counselor at the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO. "Like at the MCI Center; there seems to be a boom of jobs only when there’s a game."

Transportation is often cited as a serious problem for many D.C. residents trying to find jobs in the suburbs and surrounding areas where high-tech jobs continue to sprout.

"There’s a problem in getting District residents to suburbs unless they have a functioning car," said Charles Roslyn, chief of labor market services for the local office of the AFL-CIO.

Both Roslyn and Love noted many residents rely on public transportation and that Metro stops aren’t located in many of the city’s poor neighborhoods.

"The Metro was built to bring people from the suburbs into the city, not the other way around," Roslyn said.

Studies show unemployment correlates strongly with poverty, low education and prevalence of single-parent families. Lack of skills, some as basic as reading and writing, is the largest barrier to employment for adults, according to a report issued earlier this year by the Washington Literacy Council, a nonprofit agency that teaches about 300 adults to read each year.

"Many of our students are unemployed," said Robin Diener, executive director of the literacy council, which often receives client referrals from DOES.

She said the council teaches basic reading and writing skills, and it usually takes about two years before significant progress is evident.

Copyright 1998, The Common Denominator