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Explore →DC’s highly qualified workers can’t find jobs: ‘What is happening?’
<p>Washington DC has the highest unemployment rate in the US</p><p>Alicia 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.</p><p>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.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/washington-dc-highly-qualified-workers-unemployment">Continue reading...</a>
<p>Washington DC has the highest unemployment rate in the US</p><p>Alicia 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.</p><p>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.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/07/washington-dc-highly-qualified-workers-unemployment">Continue reading...</a>