WASHINGTON, DC—Friday's national unemployment numbers were disappointing but the DC area has its own special problems and they are lasting longer than just one (we hope) lackluster jobs report. The good news is that local governments are chipping away at these issues.
The problem the region faces is straightforward: the professional and business services sector – which comprises the bulk of office jobs in the region – has seen employment levels contract over the past two years, JLL's Scott Homa tells GlobeSt.com. The current level of public and business services sector employees is 712,600, which is below the same time in 2012.
In addition, he says, federal payrolls are down over 23,000 jobs since peaking in July 2010, and that trend will likely continue given continued budgetary pressure.
All of which points to the necessity of the region scaling back its dependence on the federal sector and building up its private sector strengths. Recognizing this local governments have been doubling down on their efforts to bolster niche areas of the economy. In July, for example, DC Mayor Vincent C. Gray unveiled an initiative to promote the city's creative industries and generate 10,000 new jobs within three years.
Collectively, the "creative economy" in the District accounts for more than 112,400 private sector employment positions, which is some 16% of all District employment.
By comparison, such jobs make up 13% of employment nationally. In dollar terms, creative businesses contribute $14.1 billion to the District's Gross State Product and an estimated $200 million to the District's tax base annually.
Other promising sectors include healthcare and education, Homa says, but he too agrees the push to grow creative jobs is a savvy one for the District.
"We continue to see opportunities for start-ups and more established digital and creative businesses to tap into a workforce that is increasingly shifting away from federal government work and now serving a customer base that's centered on consumer and business-to-business segments," he says.
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