Look around the District’s skyline, and chances are you’ll glance upon construction cranes, condominium sales, and other indicators of economic progress. But it might all be coming to a halt, according to a report today by the D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer.

“Is the D.C. economy stalling?” the monthly report into the District’s economic and revenue trends begins. Based on the latest employment figures the 18-page document cites, it very well could be. The report places great emphasis on recent numbers from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics that state that the number of total jobs in the District is declining.

Jobs in D.C., for residents and nonresidents alike, topped out in October 2012 at 736,400. But in May 2013, the most recent month for which data are available, that figure dropped 0.4 percent to 733,800. Over the previous 42 months, the District added about 41,200 jobs, or nearly 6 percent.

Employment rates for District residents have shifted, too, in recent months. Jobs for D.C. residents peaked at 341,229 in March, but by May dropped by 665. While the difference is small—only 0.2 percent—it’s a clear swing from the previous 20-month period, during which the number of jobs for District residents increased by 10.1 percent.

Most of the job losses have come from the federal government, while the private sector continues to grow, albeit at a slower rate than the public sector is shrinking. Between May 2012 and May 2013, federal government jobs in the District decreased by 4,100, for a 2 percent drop, while private firms added 6,867, or a 1.4 percent gain.

But the impact that changes in the federal payroll are having may not yet be fully realized, the report continues. “Especially because the full effects of federal spending cutbacks mandated by the sequester have not yet materialized, data suggesting that employment in the District of Columbia has already begun to decline are particularly worrisome,” it reads. “It is, however, too soon to draw firm conclusions from this data about the near
term outlook for the District’s economy.”