DC Unemployment Rate Hits One Of Highest In Nation

WASHINGTON DC (WUSA) --- The latest unemployment rate data pegs the District with one of the highest numbers. DC's Ward 8 unemployment rate is 28%, one of the highest in the nation. 

Click here for a breakdown of unemployment rates in DC, MD, VA. The data compares years 2006 through 2009. (Breakdown comes from Bureau of Labor Statistics.)  

Compared with Sept. 2006 unemployment rates, the region's unemployment rates have nearly all doubled.

In a testimony in February, DC Acting Director of Employment Services, Joseph Walsh, cites the unemployment of youth as one big influence of the large unemployment rating. He also mentions the time period of unemployment for individuals is extending.

Overall unemployment rates as of Sept. 2009 for the DC Metropolitan area is 6.2% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Councilmember Marion Barry oversees Ward 8. He could not be reached for comment at the point of this article.

According to Barry's website: "Ward Eight is the southernmost ward in the city, covers more than 4,000 acres and has the smallest percentage of taxable land in the District. The tax-exempt property including St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Boiling Air Force Base, the city's Blue Plains Wastewater Treatment Plant, D.C. Village and parkland leave just 962 acres that are subject to taxation.

Neighborhoods in Ward Eight include Anacostia, Barry Farm, Bellview, Buena Vista, Congress Heights, Douglas, Fairlawn, Garfield Heights, (which consists of Parklands, Hunter Pines, Ridgecrest, and Manor Gardens), Knox Hill, Sheridan, Shipley Terrace, Washington Highlands, and Woodland."