At his weekly press conference earlier today, Mayor Vince Gray signed into law a bill that strengthen's the city's "First Source" law requiring government-assisted projects to fill at least 51 percent of any jobs created with District residents. more ›

Another day, another investigation into potential fraud inside a city agency which has led to the termination of another city employee. This time around, it's the Department of Employment Services, which has fired interim associate director of unemployment compensation Gaby Fraser amid a D.C. Inspector General investigation into possible fraud. more ›

Loose Lips was first to the news this afternoon that Rochelle Webb, the acting Department of Employment Services Director who recently made headlines for living on the taxpayer dime at the W Hotel for a month and having a city-provided chauffeur during that same period, has been fired. more ›

The unemployment rate in the District rose back to 9.9 percent in August, mostly due to the end of the Summer Youth Employment Program. The national unemployment rate stands at 9.6 percent. The District Department of Employment Services announced that on the whole, the number of jobs in the District decreased by 500, or a negative change of 0.1 percent over last August. The only labor category to post an increase in jobs in August was construction. more ›

January unemployment figures are out today, and D.C.'s Department of Employment Services puts the District's number at 12.0 percent. That's up ever so slightly -- 0.1 percentage points -- over December, as DOES now says the previous month saw an 11.9 percent jobless rate. But note that December's figure has been revised since it was first reported. Initially, December appeared to have marked a new record, with 12.1 percent of the city's population unemployed. The revised figure instead puts December on par with October 2009. more ›

The D.C. Council took care of their Marion Barry problem earlier this afternoon, so now it's time to turn our eyes toward something else that always has the possibility to be a debacle for the city: the start of the Summer Youth Employment Program season, which officially kicked off today. District youth ages 14 to 21 may register via the DOES web site now through April 16. more ›

New jobs figures out today from the District's Department of Employment Services show that D.C. unemployment reached a record high of 12.1 percent in the month of December. That's an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the previous month, and a full 2.1 percentage points higher than the national average, which is holding steady at 10.0 percent. more ›

The unemployment rate for the District of Columbia jumped to 11.9 percent in the month of October, its highest level since the current recession began, according to figures released today by the Department of Employment Services. That number marks an increase over the previous month, September, which saw an unemployment rate of 11.4 percent. The national unemployment rate for October was 10.2 percent. Today's news comes paired with an estimate that the District actually added 10,200 jobs in October, despite the increase in unemployment figures. A news release from DOES explains these diverging trends as being due to an increase in the District's labor force, with no change in the number of employed people. more ›

The District Department of Employment Services released its monthly jobs numbers this morning, and the news appears to be rather grim. D.C.'s September unemployment rate rose by 0.3 percent over August, up to 11.4 percent, marking a brand new high since the current recession began. August, with its 11.1 percent unemployment rate, had previously seen the worst D.C. jobs figures of the year. more ›

The August unemployment numbers for the District are out, courtesy the Department of Employment Services, and the news is rather dreary. After dropping slightly in July to 10.6 percent (down from 10.9 percent in June), D.C.'s unemployment rate for August was a whopping 11.1 percent, the worst number the city has seen since the recession began. The jump corresponds to an increase in jobless figures nationwide. The August national unemployment rate was 9.7 percent, compared to 9.4 percent in July. Maryland’s unemployment rate was 7.2 percent in August, unchanged from July, while Virginia posted a solid 6.5 percent rate, actually down from 6.9 percent. more ›

The D.C. Mayor's Office put out the latest Department of Employment Services numbers today, and the unemployment rate in the District of Columbia decreased to 10.6 percent in July, compared to June's 10.9 percent unemployment rate. The figures are still well above the national unemployment rate for the same month, which was 9.4 percent, down slightly from 9.5 percent in June. Unemployment is a mixed bag in the larger region: Maryland's unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in July, up from 7.2 percent in June, while Virginia posted a 6.9 percent rate, down from 7.1 percent. more ›

The unemployment news just doesn't seem to be getting better inside the District of Columbia. Monthly Department of Employment Services numbers are out once again today, and they report that the June unemployment rate was 10.9 percent, up 0.2 percent from the previous month. The District's unemployment numbers have been climbing since December, holding slightly steadier at just below 10 percent for several months before finally surpassing the figure in May. The news comes on the same day that Mayor Fenty has proposed eliminating 250 more city government jobs as part of his latest budget proposal, in addition to the roughly 1,600 he's already cut. DOES says there were 35,900 unemployed District residents in June. more ›

The District of Columbia's May unemployment rate was 10.7 percent, the D.C. Department of Employment Services announced today. That figure is up 0.8 percent from the April rate, and 4.1 percent higher than the same month in 2008. This is the first time D.C.'s unemployment rate has gone above the 10 percent mark since the recession began. It was holding at 9.9 percent or below for the last couple of months. Nationally, things also look bleak: the U.S. unemployment rate for May was 9.4 percent, up 0.5 percent from April, and 3.9 percent higher than in May 2008. The news comes paired with Labor Department data that shows that for the first time in months, the number of people collecting unemployment benefits from the government actually fell compared to the previous week. There is at least some indication that the drop in benefits rolls may be because more unemployed people are exhausting their benefits. more ›