New Jobs Signal Stronger Recovery; Area Payrolls Up Sharply This Year
Job growth rose sharply in the Washington area in the first three months of the year, according to government statistics released yesterday, as the private sector finally started adding to its payrolls in large numbers.</br></br>The numbers are the strongest signal yet that the region's economy, which has been growing modestly in the past three years largely because of federal spending, is entering a more robust recovery, with companies in construction, retail, leisure and hospitality adding significant numbers of jobs.</br></br>The Washington area had 2.2 percent more jobs in March than a year earlier, a net gain of 60,600, after adding jobs at a 0.6 percent pace in 2003. The area's unemployment rate was 3 percent in March, the lowest of any major city and down from 3.2 percent in February and 3.7 percent in March 2003.</br></br>With both the government and private sectors now expanding at a healthy pace, some forecasters expect the Washington area to generate 80,000 jobs in 2004, on par with the boom years in the late 1990s.</br></br>"The recovery has strengthened and broadened," said Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Corp. who is one such forecaster. "That's an unabashed positive."