Disappearing DC Jobs

8/6/2019 Disappearing DC Jobs

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T H U R S DAY  ,A U G  U

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ByLizFarmer ExaminerStaff Writer 

Nearly 30,000 Washington-area workers joinedthe jobless ranksoverthe past two months as the unem-ployment rate inched up almost anentire percentage point — and allsigns point to morebadnews onthehorizon.

May and June’s unemploymentrate marked the first time this yeartheregion sawupticksin joblessness

according to data released Wednes-day by the U.S. Bureau of LaborStatistics. And more job cuts are onthe way, positioning Washington tohave theworst jobgrowth ina single year sincethe recession ended.

“We’re just catching up with therest of the nation in terms of badeconomicperformance,” saidUniver-sity of Baltimore economist RichardClinch. “This regionhas been highlydependent on the federal govern-ment, which hasbeen in delay mode... and the national economy isn’tgrowing so there’s nothing to moveus forward.”

More than 18,000 people filed forunemploymentbenefitsin theWash-ington region in June, pushing thearea up to 6.2 percent after hitting a12-month lowof 5.4 percent in April.June’snewlyunemployedrepresenta64percentincreaseoverMay’s11,000newunemployment filingsandbringsthenumberof unemployedpeopleinthe D.C. areato about194,000.

A separate report released

Wednesday shows more job lossesare to come. Washington, Marylandand Virginia are on pace to matchlast year’s job cuts by October, com- biningfor morethan 37,000 throughJuly, accordingto theconsultingfirmChallenger, Gray& Christmas.

Theincrease injob cuts isin directoppositionto therest of thecountry.

“In fact,job cuts have dropped forthe rest of the county by 8 percent[over] last year’s total through July,”saidJohnChallenger, chiefexecutiveofficerof theChicagoconsultingfirm.

“The resolve of the country to cutthe size of the government is goingto affecttheWashington,D.C.,metro[area] disproportionately.”

Theresult isa shaky futurefortheregion’s more than 300,000 federal workers and contractors, who havereaped the benefits of federalspend-ingmorethananystatein thenation,accordingto theGreaterWashingtonInitiative.

June also marked the first timeWashington didn’t post an annual job gain, losing 2,700 jobs compared

  with June 2010. Meanwhile, othermajorcitieslikeBostonandNewYorkpostedannualized gains.

Federal workers said the cutsalready had them tired of hiringfreezes.

“It’s horrible,” said Carolyn

McDonald, who has spent 40 years withvarious agencies. “A lotof peopleare putting in for government posi-

tions and not even being consideredor looked at.”

In Maryland, employers said theyplanned to lay off ordid lay off morethan 6,700 workers in July — about900 shy of the state’s total for all of last year. Challenger said layoffs in

July were largely because of cuts intraditionally stable industries likepharmaceuticals, retail andcomputer

technology.A&P/Superfresh, Allen Family

Foods and Lockheed Martin Corp.have all laid off hundreds of Mary-landemployees. Lastyear thefederalgovernment was a culprit as D.C.lost thousands of temporary Census

Bureau workers.Clinch said the uncertainty

created by the upcoming federalspending cuts will hit thearea’s con-tractorsthehardest. Anatmosphere

ofuncertaintyhas beenhangingoverWashington for the better part of a year between the near-governmentshutdown in April and the threat of the United States defaulting on itsdebt over thepast several weeks.“Everythingsloweddownbecause

no one knew what was going on,”Clinch said. “A lot of contractingactivity has been delayed so we’regetting a short-term effect in Wash-ington.”

Alan Chvotkin, executive vicepresident of the Professional Ser-

 vices Council, said contractors are just looking for a little predictabilitythesedays.

“Anythingwe cando to urge somestability in the process,” he said. “Ithinkourmemberswouldacceptless[money] to knowmore.”

LOCAL NEWS

ByLiz FarmerandAmyMyers ExaminerStaff Writers

Federalworkers saythe upcom-ingspending cuts will bea thornintheir side but they think the pain willstop short at losingtheirjobs.

“It appears as though they’retryingto balance thebudgeton the backs of federal employees,” saidGerald Alston, who has spent 34 years at the Environmental Pro-

tection Agency and is two yearsaway from retirement.

Alston said he doesn’t fear forhis job, but some nonessentialtesting programs are getting cutanda three-year salaryfreeze has

him frustrated.“I deserve a pay raise, just

  because the cost of living goesup,” he said.

Others are annoyed about cutsin business traveland being stuck with the same old computer pro-grams for another year.

Congress’ special cost-cut-ting committee, which has not  been appointed, is tasked with

slashing the federal deficit by amammoth $1.5 trillion or moreover the next decade. But theuncertainty caused this year bythe near government shutdownand the last-minute deal to raisethe United States’ debt limit has

frozen spending.Many federal employees said

theatmosphere hasall buthaltednew hires, which means more work for current employees. Andalthoughmany havebeen throughthis before, some have reachedtheir limit.

“I just don’t think that [Con-gress] can relate to federalemployees,” said Bob Koston, a

longtime U.S. Agency for Inter-national Development employee.“‘We’re not taking payroll reduc-tions yet — when they startaddressing reducing the payroll,people will worry.”

lfarmer@washingtonexaminer.com

Federal workers wary of spending cuts

COVER STORY

Washington’s employment bubble bursting

EXAMINER FILE

More than 30,000 workers joined the unemployment ranks over the past two months in the Washington area.

ByScottMcCabe andEmilyBabay ExaminerStaff Writers

Apsychiatrist andher teenageson were founddead in their Kensingtonhome in what Montgomery Countypoliceare calling a murder-suicide.

The bodies of 54-year-old Mar-garet Jensvold and 13-year-oldBenjamin Barnhard were discov-eredat their homeon the unit blockof Simms Court at about 2:30 p.m.

Tuesday. Police were called to thehome after Jensvold’s co-workercontactedauthorities, saying shehadnotbeenable toreachthewomanforseveral days.

Neighbor Lauren Anthone wasshocked by thenews.

“I feel sad that they slippedthrough cracks and none of us sawit coming,” Anthone told The Wash-ington Examiner . “No one reachedout for help and obviously someone  was under a great deal of mentaldistress.”

Officers found Jensvold’s andBarnhard’s bodies in theirbedrooms,police said. It wasn’t immediatelyknown how long their bodies had been there.

Both had suffered trauma, saidOfficer Howard Hersh, a Montgom-ery County police spokesman. He  would not say how Jensvold andBarnhard died,whetheranyweapon was found at the home or who initi-ated the killings.

He said he didn’t know whether

anyoneelse waslivingat the home.Theboy’s father, JamesBarnhard,told WRC-TV that Ben recentlygraduated from Wellspring Acad-emy, the school for overweight kidsin rural North Carolina that had been featured on the show “Too Fatfor 15: Fighting Back” on Style Net- work. The father said Jensvold wasa lovelymother.

Jensvold had co-edited the book“Psychopharmacology and Women:Sex, Gender, and Hormones” andcontributed to the book “Psycho-

pharmacology from a FeministPerspective.”She had previously practiced at

the Premenstrual Syndrome Clinicon St. Elmo Road in Bethesda,according to records.

Jensvold once sued the NationalInstitutes of Health for sex dis-crimination. Sheand anotherdoctorclaimed that they were forced to  work in a male dominated, sexistatmosphere, andthat they hadbeendeniedmentoringopportunitiescon-sideredessentialto advancing intheir

careers. But in 1996, U.S. DistrictJudge Deborah K. Chasanow tossedout the claims, saying they were inpart “exaggerated”and “fabricated.”

Staff WriterFreemanKlopottcon-tributed to thisreport.

smccabe@washingtonexaminer.com

Mom, son deadin MontCo

murder-suicide

Bye, bye government spendingD.C. area jobless rates

June Unemployed May Unemployed April Unemployed

Metro area 6.2% 194,200 5.7% 175,800 5.4% 164,900July job Jan.-July Jan.-July

cuts 2011 2010District 210 15,981 35,040Virginia 120 7,112 3,184Maryland 6,746 14,470 2,240Region 7,076 37,563 40,464Nation 66,414 312,220 339,353

SOURCE: BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS; CHALLENGER, GRAY & CHRISTMAS