Area Hit By Labor Shortage;Jobs Go Unfilled As Unemployment Drops to 2.7 Percent
A continuing economic boom in the Washington area pushed the local unemployment rate down to 2.7 percent in April, leaving many employers searching desperately for help.</br></br>Unemployment in the District reached a 16-year low of 5.2 percent in April-the most recent data available-according to a report released yesterday by the District government.</br></br>The national jobless rate rose slightly last month to 5.6 percent, the Labor Department announced yesterday, but officials said the increase likely was a statistical quirk and may not indicate any significant slowdown in the nation's economy. {Details on Page B1.}</br></br>Fairfax County, buoyed by real estate development, retail growth and defense contracting, registered a 1.5 percent unemployment rate in April, the lowest county figure in Virginia. In Maryland counties within the metropolitan area, the rate was 3.1 percent in March, the most recent figure available for that area.</br></br>"If anyone wants a job right now, the job is there," said Dee Esser, supervisor of marketing for Virginia's Department of Economic Information Services, the agency that monitors employment trends. "The influx of new industry and new organizations and new retail and new services requires people that we just don't have right now," she said.