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According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, over the last five years more than 233,000 jobs have been added to the Washington metropolitan region. On a December-to-December basis, the region added 71,200 new jobs during 1999, almost 23 percent greater than for the same twelve-month period for the previous year. Of this amount, Suburban Maryland accounted for 18,000 jobs, slightly better than 25 percent. In its Cooperative Forecast, the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments forecast 41,200 new jobs per year for the region over the next ten years. Suburban Maryland's share is estimated at 11,600 or 28 percent of total growth for the Washington area.
The recent surge of new growth can be attributed in part to the expansion of several U.S. Government agencies to the Suburban Maryland market, including the National Institute of Health, Food and Drug Administration, and Department of Health and Human Services.
The region continues to feature one of the lowest unemployment rates of major metropolitan areas in the country at 2.4 percent for the PMSA.
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