Photo by Glyn Lowe Photos.

After 29 consecutive months of being in double digits, the District’s unemployment rate fell below 10 percent in January, new figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics state. The District’s jobless rate fell to 9.9 percent to open 2012, but the drop in unemployment comes with a pretty glaring asterisk—D.C. actually lost 6,100 jobs in January, with payrolls falling from 737,000 in December 2011 to 731,600.

In fact, according to the BLS’ numbers, the District experienced the largest month-over-month percentage decline in employment, shedding 0.8 percent of its jobs. The national unemployment rate was 8.3 percent in January and February.

One reason the District’s jobless rate fell while even though the number of jobs decreased as well might be the number of D.C. residents who are finding work in the suburbs, said David Cooper, an expert in state labor trends with the nonpartisan Economic Policy Institute.

“For the District in particular we’re seeing people move into the District but taking jobs in Virginia and Maryland,” Cooper said in an interview. “Certainly the unemployment rate going down is good news. People finding jobs is good news, whether in the District, Maryland or Virginia.”

In a statement released after the BLS report, Mayor Vince Gray was quick to latch on to the lower unemployment rate, which had hovered above 10 percent since August 2009.

“I’m thrilled to see that unemployment in the District continues to drop, and these new numbers help highlight our continuing efforts to put District residents back to work,” the mayor said. Gray cited his administration’s “One City, One Hire” program that encourages businesses operating in the District to hire D.C. residents.

Still, there was some other good news for the District’s labor situation. December 2011 unemployment was revised downward from 10.6 percent to 10.1. And 2011 showed solid growth overall across several industries, including hospitality, which grew its payrolls by 7.3 percent, and construction, which grew by 9.1 percent last year.

Compared to other local employment figures, the District’s are “in the middle of the pack,” Cooper said. While there has been solid growth in some industries, especially with D.C.’s population continuing to grow, one albatross on job numbers has been the local government payroll. State and local governments across the country continue to hemorrhage jobs, Cooper said.

“We’ve seen growth in employment in every sector other than state and local government since the recession ended,” he said. The District government has cut 15.5 percent of its payroll since December 2007, Cooper said. “That’s been even more pronounced in the last six months.”