June 18, 2013

D.C. unemployment jumps slightly

BY: ALAN BLINDER JANUARY 17, 2013 | 8:00 PM
Leave a comment

The District's unemployment rate climbed in December, though the jobless rates in Maryland and Virginia held steady or dipped.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday that the unemployment figure in D.C. jumped to 8.5 percent last month, up from 8.3 percent in November and the first time it had climbed since June 2011.

The city has long struggled with joblessness, and it regularly posted one of the nation's highest unemployment rates during the economic downturn.

The District's jobless figure peaked at 10.5 percent in December 2009 -- the same month the nation posted an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent.

Maryland's unemployment rate has been relatively stable in recent months: The state recorded a jobless level of 6.7 percent in October, a number that fell to 6.6 percent in November and then held steady in December.

In Virginia, unemployment inched downward from 5.6 percent to 5.5 percent. The national unemployment rate was 7.8 percent in December.

ablinder@washingtonexaminer.com

View article comments Leave a comment
Author:

Alan Blinder

Staff Reporter, D.C. City Hall
The Washington Examiner

More from washingtonexaminer.com

From the Weekly Standard

  • Frack to the Future

    Williston, N.D.

    Read More...
  • Downsize Ike

    The beleaguered Eisenhower Memorial Commission holds its next public gathering later this month, and before its members duck-walk into the hearing room, huddled in a hoplite phalanx against a...

    Read More...
  • The Lesson of Kermit Gosnell

    What was the lesson of the Kermit Gosnell trial? Since the Philadelphia doctor was convicted last month of murdering three born-alive infants, two competing viewpoints have emerged.

    Read More...