2005 Job Growth Strongest in 5 Years

Washington Post, Monday, February 20, 2006; Page D02
The Washington area added 81,600 jobs in 2005, making it the strongest calendar year since 2000. But those jobs weren't created evenly across all sectors, and the differences in the pace of growth across industries provides a look at how the employment base of the region is changing.
The number of jobs in the area rose 2.8 percent for the year. Therefore, any sector with a higher pace of growth is expanding as a proportion of the local economy and any sector growing slower is shrinking in relative terms. By that measure, the big winner is the leisure and hospitality sector, which includes restaurants and hotels. It grew 4.7 percent. That reflects the rebound of the region's hotel and travel sector since tourism fell off in 2001 and 2002; more visitors means more people hired to take care of them.
The Washington area added 81,600 jobs in 2005, making it the strongest calendar year since 2000. But those jobs weren\'t created evenly across all sectors, and the differences in the pace of growth across industries provides a look at how the employment base of the region is changing.
Other big gainers were the construction sector, reflecting a booming residential real estate market, and professional and business services, which includes many companies that do information technology work for the federal government and have benefited from higher homeland security and defense spending.
Laggards include government jobs, which grew 1.5 percent. The federal government, it appears, is expanding by hiring contractors far more than it is hiring people directly. And the information sector, which includes telecommunications and publishing, lost jobs as the telecom industry continues to consolidate.
-- Neil Irwin