WASHINGTON, DC-New statistics from the Labor Department bode well for the nation’s still-painful unemployment picture and, by extension, the DC area as well. The Labor Department has reported that weekly unemployment claims dropped by 34,000 to a seasonally adjusted 407,000. It was a much steeper drop than Wall Street analysts had expected despite the traditionally volatile period between Veteran’s Day and Thanksgiving. Claims may rise again, but optimists note they have been steadily trending down for the past several weeks. 

For the DC area, which has maintained relatively stable employment, albeit with higher unemployment levels than the average, the news is good as upwardly trending employment could give the office sector a much-needed boost. “We haven’t seen the October unemployment figures yet, but I don’t believe they will hold bad news for the DC area,” Jeffrey Kottmeier, vice president and director of research at Cassidy Turley, tells GlobeSt.com. “This will still be a top-growth region.” He points to figures that show the local job markets gaining year to date through October, compared to 2009.

Specifically, 32,000 jobs were added to local job rolls. The professional and business services sector--a key measure for office--gained 11,200 jobs, Kottmeier says, while the federal government added 11,400 jobs in the same period. “What has been interesting about federal employment figures is that they are still rising even though the temporary jobs that gave the numbers a boost earlier this year--such as with Census--have been weeded out,” he relates.

In fact, Scott Homa, research director for Jones Lang LaSalle, tells GlobeSt.com that Metro DC’s employment performance is now in line with normalized economic conditions. “Relative to the continued volatility seen throughout much of the country, the Metro DC region continues to outperform the nation and exhibit the sound fundamentals that make it one of the most durable and resilient economies in the world,” he says.