Washington is the Nation's Strongest Job Market

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Help wanted at Accenture and Deloitte

In addition to hhgregg, which plans to hire 2,500 people nationwide in 2010—including 500 to staff 10 new stores in Washington—an additional employer that is significantly increasing head count is Accenture (ACN). The management consulting firm announced plans to hire 50,000 people around the world during fiscal 2010 (which ends on Aug. 31), including 7,000 in the U.S. In the greater Washington area alone, Accenture will hire more than 1,000 people, according to a spokesperson.

Deloitte's federal government practice also hired 1,200 new employees in the Washington metro area so far this year and plans to hire about 160 per month through the end of May 2011.

Despite improvements, the U.S. labor market remains anemic. Economists estimate that the private sector must create more than 150,000 jobs per month over several months to have a significant impact on the unemployment rate.

"There are 11 million more people in the labor market than 10 years ago, but the same number of jobs, says Carl Van Horn, a professor of public policy at Rutgers University. In recent months, he says: "We've had a little progress, but not enough."

Job hunting has become highly competitive. In June, there were 14.6 million unemployed people in the U.S.—nearly twice as many as in late 2007. The Conference Board says there are nearly four unemployed workers for every online advertised vacancy in the U.S. Also, many new jobs posted last month were in accommodation and food services, reports Monster. These tend to be seasonal, rather than permanent positions.

wanted: greater qualifications

Van Horn notes that the number of online job ads can be misleading; employers might post ads, even when there are no openings, to see if there are qualified workers willing to do current employees' jobs for less pay. A company may also be required to post a vacancy even if it already has a preferred candidate.

Another hurdle for job seekers: Employers are pickier now. June Shelp, vice-president of the Conference Board, says ads tend to feature stricter qualifications, eliminating many potential applicants. With millions of people unemployed and college graduates entering the workforce, "[companies] have a better chance of asking for exactly what you want."

For many, securing a new job has thus been impossible. In a survey of 908 unemployed people published by Rutgers in May, two-thirds of those who were jobless in August 2009 had still not found work by March; 16 percent had been unemployed for more than two years. Most of those who did find work took pay cuts and diminished benefits. "While the worst phase of the Great Recession is behind us, the vast majority of jobless Americans have not found new jobs," states the Rutgers report.

The labor market has stagnated, says Van Horn. While there are glimmers of improvement quarter by quarter, businesses must continually add hundreds of thousands of new jobs before we can say employment is truly growing again, he says. "We fell a long way and climbing back up takes a long time."

Click here to see America's Strongest Job Markets.

Wong is a lifestyle and real estate reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek.

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