The jobs recovery continues, but the year-over-year deficit in D.C. remains higher than the national average.
Revised numbers from the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer show as of February, the number of jobs at employers based in the District was down 72,300 from February 2020. That’s a 9% deficit. The three-month average decline compared to the previous three months is 8.7%, compared to the 6% U.S. average.
For the entire D.C. metro area, there were 227,200 fewer jobs in February than a year ago, or a 6.8% decline. The deficit in the D.C. suburbs was 6.1% in February.
The federal government has actually added 3,733 jobs, or a 1.9%, increase over February 2020.
The federal government accounted for 27% of all jobs in D.C. in February. Federal government jobs in the District accounted for 53.2% of all federal government jobs in the metro area.
Federal government jobs in the region also accounted for 6.9% of all federal government jobs in the U.S.
Hospitality, which includes food service, hotels and amusement, remains the hardest-hit sector in the District, with 42,367 fewer jobs in February than a year ago, or a deficit of 53%.
Legal services, mostly law firms, in D.C. had 1,067 fewer jobs in February compared to a year ago, 3.6% fewer. Legal services still accounts for about one out of every 25 jobs in the District.
Professional services, which includes information technology, is the second-largest employer in the District, accounting for 12.7% of all jobs. Employment in that category is down less than 1% from a year ago.
Other notable categories with large year-over-year job losses include education, down 6.9%; healthcare, down 4.4%; and retail trade, down 15.2%.
