Need a job? Head to Washington, D.C.

washington_dc.ju.top.jpgJob postings in the Washington, D.C., area are up 6% from last year. By Jessica Dickler, CNNMoney.com staff writer


NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Looking for a job? You might want to head to the nation's capital city.

Employment in the District of Columbia is up 3% this year, outpacing every other state in the nation. Last month alone, D.C. posted a gain of 17,800 jobs, up 2.5% from July -- the country's biggest gain.

"The stability that D.C. has shown throughout this recession is building confidence with businesses around here," said Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute, a D.C.-based think tank that currently has one job opening.

Job postings in the D.C. area are up 6% from a year ago, according to the Monster Employment Index, which tracks data from job boards, government sites and individual corporations.

And the ratio of unemployed people per job posting is one-to-one -- better pavement-pounding odds than any other city.

Software engineers and project managers are the most in demand, thanks to several large Virginia-based companies, including General Dynamics (more than 100 open positions), ManTech International (36 jobs available) and SAIC (more than 200 jobs).

Plus, many of these full-time positions in D.C. pay more than $40,000 a year, according to a search on Indeed.com.

Economists, however, agree that D.C. -- and the nation -- are not out of the woods.

Nationwide, unemployment is still at 9.6%, and more than 20 million people are searching for work. Last month, the economy lost a total of 54,000 jobs, most of which came from the public sector.

And things are slightly worse in D.C. The town's unemployment rate is at 9.8%, and the federal government -- the area's largest employer -- has been shedding jobs for three consecutive months.

"It's good to see improvement but we always need to be wary," cautioned Heather Boushey, senior economist at the Center for American Progress, a D.C.-based organization with more than two dozen job openings. "I wouldn't say that the great recession has ended for those in the District." To top of page

Just the hot list include
Frontline troops push for solar energy
The U.S. Marines are testing renewable energy technologies like solar to reduce costs and casualties associated with fossil fuels. Play
25 Best Places to find rich singles
Looking for Mr. or Ms. Moneybags? Hunt down the perfect mate in these wealthy cities, which are brimming with unattached professionals. More
Fun festivals: Twins to mustard to pirates!
You'll see double in Twinsburg, Ohio, and Ketchup lovers should beware in Middleton, WI. Here's some of the best and strangest town festivals. Play
Index Last Change % Change
Dow 32,627.97 -234.33 -0.71%
Nasdaq 13,215.24 99.07 0.76%
S&P 500 3,913.10 -2.36 -0.06%
Treasuries 1.73 0.00 0.12%
Data as of 6:29am ET
Company Price Change % Change
Ford Motor Co 8.29 0.05 0.61%
Advanced Micro Devic... 54.59 0.70 1.30%
Cisco Systems Inc 47.49 -2.44 -4.89%
General Electric Co 13.00 -0.16 -1.22%
Kraft Heinz Co 27.84 -2.20 -7.32%
Data as of 2:44pm ET
Sponsors

Sections

Bankrupt toy retailer tells bankruptcy court it is looking at possibly reviving the Toys 'R' Us and Babies 'R' Us brands. More

Land O'Lakes CEO Beth Ford charts her career path, from her first job to becoming the first openly gay CEO at a Fortune 500 company in an interview with CNN's Boss Files. More

Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.