According to this article, along with the Labor Department data, the unemployment rate in Washing D.C. has increased in the past nine months. The mayor Vincent Gray has shared his discontent with the rate reaching 8.5 in December. Before this increase in job losses, there was a nine month period of a decrease in unemployment, and Gray attributes this to his administration job policies coming into affect. Overall, Gray is not too worried about this slight increase because they have grown so much, it should not be too much of an impact. Since one year ago, the District added 2,900 jobs and still drastically changed the unemployment rate from 10.1%. Gray is optimistic and only sees a dip in the rate after a long increasing period.
Other states have also changed in unemployment but in different ways. For 22 states, unemployment has decreased and another 16 states with an increasing unemployment rate. Leaving 12 states with an unemployment rate that has not been affected and have stayed completely the same.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-unemployment-rate-increases-slightly-ending-9-month-streak-mayor-says-hes-disappointed/2013/01/18/f3205e14-618e-11e2-8387-f5a6926d3170_story.html
I come from one of the twenty-two states that has a decreasing unemployment rate. Las Vegas, NV has one of the highest unemployment rates at 10.8% but our mayor has gone about revitalizing downtown Las Vegas in order to create more jobs for the unemployed. Before the project our unemployment rate was at 13.3% a year ago. With an increasing unemployment rate, Washington D.C. can look to model some states in what they are doing to increase jobs within the city.
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