The sign in the window is a plea: “Help Wanted.” But it also tells a story about supply and demand, that’s been thrown out of whack by prolonged levels of low unemployment. At Silk Road, an upscale women’s clothing boutique in the 1100 block of King Street, a handmade sign advertises two open positions at the store — an office manager and a sales associate. The sign has been there a month, and the store manager hopes to fill the position within the next two weeks.
“We tried Craig’s List, but we didn’t get any responses,” said Churek Dzhamgerchinova, general manager. “So far, all the applicants have come into the store after seeing the sign. We’ve had three or four applicants.”
With a 2.4 percent unemployment in Alexandria, many employers are having a hard time finding people fill positions. For the past several years, job growth in the region has added thousands of new positions — and the local supply of labor has not been able to meet the growing demand for workers.
“There’s plenty of work and not enough people to do it,” said Lonnie Rich, chairman of the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve been having a hard time finding applicants for my law firm.”
Rich’s general practice firm is not alone. All over town, “help wanted” signs are popping up as employers struggle to meet the growing needs of a region in transition. Rich said that the labor shortage is putting a premium on good workers.
“I think this makes employers value their employees more,” he said. “In a labor shortage, employees get treated better. That’s good for employees, and it’s not necessary bad for management either.”
MONTHLY FINANCIAL reports show several economic trends in Alexandria: a 30-percent drop in home sales during the month of May, a 12-percent increase in average home sales prices and a 3.3 percent inflation rate. For the past year, the city’s unemployment rate has hovered below 3 percent.
“When the unemployment rate falls below 3.5 percent, that means that it becomes difficult for people to fill jobs,” said John McClain, a senior fellow at George Mason University’s Center for Regional Analysis. “People are probably being hired for jobs that they aren’t qualified for.”
McClain said that the Washington metropolitan area has added 73,000 new jobs in the last three years — more than half of those have been in Northern Virginia. Experts say that one of the key reasons the reason for the job growth is the expansion in the homeland-security-related industries — an economic consequence of living in a post 9/11 world.
“Northern Virginia is close to the Pentagon and close to the airport, so it’s a great location for a lot of these new jobs,” McClain said. “Overall, the economy is performing well, and employers are struggling to keep up.”
The growing military-industrial complex — and all the services that support it — are creating a wealth of opportunities in Virginia. From computer engineers to security analysts to office managers at upscale women’s clothing stores, trends in job growth are having an influence on the labor market.
“We think this will moderate soon,” McClain said. “The federal government can’t keep increasing the way it has been in the past few years.”