DC-area federal government workforce continues to shrink

WASHINGTON — The number of federal government jobs in both the District and the wider D.C. region has declined on a year-over-year basis almost every month this year, according to statistics kept by the District’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

In September, the office reported 195,100 federal government jobs in the District — 3,500 fewer than a year ago, and an annual decline of 1.8 percent.

Throughout the D.C. metro area, the federal government employed 360,300 as of September — 6,300 fewer than a year ago, or an annual decline of 1.7 percent.

Federal government jobs still account for about 10.5 percent of the D.C. region’s total labor force.

The number of local government jobs in the region was up significantly from a year ago.

Local governments employed 341,700 people as of September — 8,300 jobs, or 2.5 percent more than in September 2017.

Aside from the broad employment category of professional, business and other services, health care and education are the largest area employers, accounting for 444,400 area jobs in September.

Leisure and hospitality posted the biggest annual growth, with 341,700 jobs — 12,200 more jobs than a year earlier and a job growth rate of 3.7 percent.

Jeff Clabaugh

Jeff Clabaugh has spent 20 years covering the Washington region's economy and financial markets for WTOP as part of a partnership with the Washington Business Journal, and officially joined the WTOP newsroom staff in January 2016.

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