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D.C. jobless rate rises to 8.2%
(Published September 7, 2004)

By ROBERT ARKELL
Staff Writer

Unemployment in the District surged up to 8.2 percent in July and shot past the national unemployment rate of 5.7 percent, according to data announced Aug. 26 by the D.C. government.

"I think what’s happening to the economy speaks for itself," said Gregory Irish, director of the D.C. Department of Employment Services (DOES). "There have been some job losses, some of which are not explainable."

Irish said that changes in the monthly unemployment rate were affected by an influx of students and college graduates entering the workforce. He also noted that recent annual D.C. unemployment statistics, compared to July 2003, show that there are 7,700 fewer employed D.C. residents and 1,700 more unemployed residents.

"We’ve got 687,000 jobs in the District," Irish said, "but a majority of those jobs are held by people outside of the District – 275,000 District residents are employed. ...You see all of these (job) activities around the city, but not all of these jobs are going to District residents."

Irish said the solution to the District’s unemployment problem could rest on improving education.

"All of these new jobs require a college education...Where do these people go when (schools in the District) have a 40 percent drop-out rate? They become unemployed," Irish said.

Irish said he anticipates that all D.C. residents will be required to have a college education in the future if they want to be employed in the city.

"There’s going to be some requirement on these people to continue to pursue an education," he said.

The DOES report shows that the city’s July unemployment rate of 8.2 percent was a 0.5 percent increase from June’s 7.7 percent rate and a 0.6 percent increase from the rate in July 2003. The civilian labor force in the District decreased by 6,100 from July 2003 to July 2004.

The national unemployment rate in July was 5.7 percent, one-tenth of a percent lower than the June 2004 national rate and six-tenths of a percent lower than the July 2003 rate.

City Councilman Adrian Fenty, D-Ward 4, told The Common Denominator he is concerned about rising unemployment in the District.

"We’re not training our youth workforce well at all," Fenty said. "A lot of it falls under the rubric of training D.C. residents. ...There is a huge number of people who are illiterate. If people are not literate, then they won’t be able to get a job."

Fenty said he doesn’t think that employed D.C. residents are leaving the workforce because the District is an unattractive place to work.

"I think the District is becoming more attractive to live in, but it is also becoming a harder place to afford to live. ...There is no flight of the upper middle class – they just find it hard to afford housing here," Fenty said.

Fenty said he believes more government and private programs to increase the availability of affordable housing would help solve the problem.

The Washington metropolitan area gained 80,600 new jobs during the past 12 months, with the private sector gaining 68,600 jobs and the public sector adding 12,000 jobs, according to government data. The major increases in the private sector were made in professional and business services, with 28,00 new jobs, while the major decrease in the public sector occurred in local government employment, which showed a 23,200 job decline.

The civilian labor force in the Washington suburbs increased by 25,100, with the number of employed residents rising by 29,300 and the number of unemployed decreasing by 4,300. The unemployment rate for the "suburban ring" was at 2.7 percent in July, one-tenth of a percent lower than it was in June 2004 and four-tenths of a percent lower than the July 2003 rate of 3.6 percent.