DC’s highly qualified workers can’t find jobs: ‘What is happening?’

## Summary
Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters DC’s highly qualified workers can’t find jobs: ‘What is happening?’ Washington DC has the highest unemployment rate in the US A licia Contreras was in Tunisia, working as the deputy country representative for Libya for USAID, when she received the news: she was fired. What she didn’t expect back then was that after a double major, an MBA and 17 years of experience as a public servant, she wouldn’t be able to find a job back at home. In DC, there’s a pretty broad group of sectors.” The federal government reduced funding for grants, generating a big fall in jobs in scientific areas and other sectors. I need to fight back.” Explore more on these topics Washington DC US politics US work & careers US economy Trump administration Work experience features Share Reuse this content

## Article Content
People walk past the US Capitol during sunset, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
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People walk past the US Capitol during sunset, on Capitol Hill in Washington DC.
Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters
DC’s highly qualified workers can’t find jobs: ‘What is happening?’
Washington DC has the highest unemployment rate in the US
A
licia Contreras was in Tunisia, working as the deputy country representative for Libya for USAID, when she received the news: she was fired. The
Trump administration
had ceased the cooperation agency’s operations and terminated most overseas staff. What she didn’t expect back then was that after a double major, an MBA and 17 years of experience as a public servant, she wouldn’t be able to find a job back at home.
Contreras moved back to the
Washington DC
area last September and immediately started her job search. She looked for positions in both the public and private sectors, in-person, hybrid and remote. She focused her search mostly on the US capital city and its two nearby states, Maryland and Virginia, because of her family commitments: she has two children, ages three and six. Six months later, none of her close to 100 applications have been successful.
“The job market is pretty bad here. I got a request to do like an AI video interview, but other than that, most of it has been rejections,” she said. “I feel like it’s saturated.”
Hers is not an isolated case. Washington DC’s unemployment rate is now the highest since August 2015, excluding the pandemic, according to the most recent data. More than
300,000
jobs have been cut from the federal government, the region’s largest employer, since 2024. The cuts came after Donald Trump led a purge of federal employees, a move he said was meant to “eliminate waste” and a task he assigned to Elon Musk and his “department of government efficiency” (Doge).
By January, federal public employment
had fallen
to its lowest level in at least a decade, affecting many other businesses and sectors. As a result, DC now has the
highest unemployment
rate in the country (6.7%), followed by California (5.5%). And the experts don’t believe the situation will improve in the short term.
According to data from Indeed, the job listings website, job openings reflect this situation. “If you look at our most recent data, DC job postings are 30% below where they were pre-Covid, and that is the softest among all states in the US,” said Laura Ullrich, Indeed’s director of economic research. “And it’s broad-based, especially if you compare it to some other states. In South Carolina, for example, we’re 28% above pre-Covid. There are still some sectors that are below pre-pandemic levels, but not many of them. In DC, there’s a pretty broad group of sectors.”
The federal government reduced funding for grants, generating a big fall in jobs in scientific areas and other sectors. Also, the administration’s efforts to shrink the federal government led to widespread termination of federal contractors. As a result, an employee of a consulting firm, who requested his name not be used, was fired in January last year, along with another 75 colleagues, representing 85% of the total workforce. “At the beginning, I got zero, nothing, not even a bite, not even a phone call. I was like: ‘What the hell is happening?’ But I was talking to a lot of people and a lot of friends, and they were all the same,” he said.
A year and two months later, he’s had about 15 interviews, but nothing has landed. “It’s been a very, very difficult process … especially with all of that education and training now being in this position”. He went to Bates College, a top-tier, small liberal arts college in Maine, and to the also top-tier private Georgetown University in DC, where he obtained a master’s in science and international development.
Something interviewees for this article mentioned is that many of their former colleagues or friends are having a hard time not only finding a new position, but finding something that offers equivalent pay to what they had before. Consequently, many are taking salary cuts, or are going from high-level senior positions to junior or mid-level positions.
“I’ve been told ‘you’re overqualified’ many times,” said Felipe Mendy, an Argentinian veterinarian and first-time father of a three-month-old who’s been unemployed for two years. “Firstly, I thought it was a matter of language or culture. I thought that maybe I needed a US degree … but then I started meeting many who went to very prestigious universities and also couldn’t find a job. Many highly qualified people with experience at organizations such as the Organization of American States or the World Bank are working at coffee shops.”
He experienced that himself. Mendy lived in Washington for the past six years, where he and his wife moved because of her job as an economist. After he lost his job in a US company specializing in animal nutrition, he helped coach a rugby team

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- And we downsized, tightened our belts, but at a certain point we thought: ‘For what?’ After my US experience, I’m a lot more valuable back home.” Affordability is a big issue for those searching for a position.
- But besides affordability, overqualification and their futures, many also struggle with the impact of the Trump administration’s decisions and, in particular, the erosion of institutions that have played important roles.

### Areas for Consideration
- A year and two months later, he’s had about 15 interviews, but nothing has landed. “It’s been a very, very difficult process … especially with all of that education and training now being in this position”.
- And we downsized, tightened our belts, but at a certain point we thought: ‘For what?’ After my US experience, I’m a lot more valuable back home.” Affordability is a big issue for those searching for a position.

### Implications
- What she didn’t expect back then was that after a double major, an MBA and 17 years of experience as a public servant, she wouldn’t be able to find a job back at home.
- As a result, DC now has the highest unemployment rate in the country (6.7%), followed by California (5.5%).
- And the experts don’t believe the situation will improve in the short term.
- As a result, an employee of a consulting firm, who requested his name not be used, was fired in January last year, along with another 75 colleagues, representing 85% of the total workforce. “At the beginning, I got zero, nothing, not even a bite, not even a phone call.

### Expert Commentary
This article covers job, washington, federal topics. Notable strengths include discussion of job. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1357.