Index Points to Gains For the Area Economy
The Washington metropolitan area's economy stumbled slightly in February, but promises to turn in a positive performance for the first quarter and the rest of the year, according to the Greater Washington Research Center.</br></br>The Research Center said that indicators that measure the economy's current health weakened in February, in part because of poor weather but also because "the economy is not strong enough to keep driving ahead at an increasing rate," according to Steve Fuller, an urban affairs specialist for George Washington University who tracks the local economy for the center.</br></br>Fuller added, however, that the center's leading indicators, which forecast growth approximately six months into the future, were all stronger in February than a month before. It was the first time in 11 months that all the leading indicators were positive, he said.</br></br>Despite weakness in February and continuing bad weather into the spring, the Washington area economy appears to have turned in a positive performance for the first three months of the year, according to Fuller. Early data indicate that installation of basic business telephone service was up 37 percent from a year earlier, with most of the growth in Northern Virginia. Housing sales were up slightly, despite worse weather this year than last, Fuller said, and employment more than doubled in the first three months of 1993 over a year earlier. Unemployment in March was 4.4 percent, compared with 5.3 percent a year earlier, he noted.</br></br>Fuller said that data on employment appears to suggest that jobs are being created in start-up enterprises or by area residents becoming self-employed.