Uncle Sam remains a major employer in the D.C. region, still accounting for more than 11% of all jobs, but the region’s federal government workforce continues a yearslong shrinking trend.
A monthly report from the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer says as of February, total federal government employment across the metro area was 362,500 — 900 fewer federal government jobs than a year earlier.
In January, the year-over-year decline was more pronounced — down 2,600.
Federal government employment from month to month can be volatile, but year-over-year comparisons are more representative.
In the District, the decline in federal government employment was more pronounced than in the region as a whole, with 194,600 employees on the federal payroll in February. That’s 1,900 fewer than a year ago, or a decline of about 1%.
The federal government remains the region’s third-largest employer, behind the extremely broad category of “professional, business, and other services” (972,100 jobs) and “education and health care” (445,500 jobs.)
Tourism is a major area employer, and the number of those jobs is growing.
The strongest job growth in the past year has been “leisure and hospitality,” which employed 331,500 people throughout the region. That’s 13,900 more than a year ago, or an annual job growth rate of 4.4%.
Local governments throughout the region employ almost as many people as the federal government, at 346,600 jobs.
