(Washington, DC)  The Department of Employment Services (DOES) today issued a 10-year forecast of job trends for the Washington Metropolitan Area. The publication, "Employment Projections by Industry and Occupation 2004-2014," forecasts that jobs in the metropolitan areas will grow to 505,000 by 2014, an annual increase of 50,500 jobs each year.

The Projections report is issued bi-annually by DOES and prepared by Job Trends Associates, Inc.  “The 10-year study shows that just over 23 percent of metro area jobs are in the District,” said DOES Director Summer Spencer. “The forecast shows the metropolitan areas employment increasing 1.5 percent per year between 2004 and 2014, with the District at the center of one of the fastest growing regional economies in the country.”

The data in the report confirms that the District of Columbia has a civilian workforce of less than 300,000, a slightly lower total than in 1990.  Since District jobs have totaled about 690,000, with barely 300,000 residents in the workforce, it has more than twice as many jobs as employed residents.  The report confirms that large numbers commute into the District for jobs.

Federal employment continues to be concentrated in the District, which has 56 percent of the 342,000 federal jobs in the metropolitan area.  Between 1990 and 2006 more than 40 percent of metropolitan job growth was from business and professional services with two-thirds of that in professional services such as legal service, engineering, computer, and consulting services.  Total job growth for professional services equals 133,200.  Health care was next with 93,000 more jobs and 13 percent of the growth. .

For a copy of the Employment Projections by Industry and Occupation 2004-2014, contact the Department of Employment Services, Office of Labor Market Research and Information at (202) 671-2100 or download a copy of the study at does.dc.gov, click on Documents. 

This study is part of the regular cycle of state and regional projections sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration of the US Department of Labor and coordinated by the American Labor Market Information System (ALMIS) consortium in all state areas. Both industry and occupational projections were developed using software developed by ALMIS under guidelines that they have developed. Reference was also made to regional projections by Global Insight, a highly respected forecasting firm with global reach.