DC employment 98% of pre-pandemic; where the jobs are

The D.C. metro’s unemployment rate, which peaked at 10% in April 2020, now stands at 3.6%, the fourth-lowest among “gateway cities,” according to commercial real estate services firm JLL — and there are jobs to be had.

D.C.’s unemployment rate is behind only Boston, Seattle, and San Francisco, according to JLL.

JLL’s Pulse of the Market for May also reports the number of jobs filled in the region is 97.9% of pre-pandemic levels, and the number of job postings for open positions in the metro reached 315,000 in May, a 16.5% increase over April.



JLL says the region’s non-cyclical economy, anchored by the federal government and government contracting, is the driving factor behind low unemployment and high job openings.

Computer and math-related jobs are the most in-demand across the D.C. metro, accounting for more than 73,000 job postings in May. Job postings in those industries continue to see growth. Jobs within that sector in demand include system and software engineers, data scientists and business analysts.

Other top job posting categories are management, business and finance, and health care.

Below are job openings in the D.C. metro by profession and industry.

Courtesy JLL

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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