Washington Local Economy Still Expanding?

 Here's the money quote:

The current economic crisis is unlikely to result in the same kind of shared experience. To be sure, the economic contraction is causing pain just about everywhere. In October, less than a month after the financial markets began to melt down, Moody’s Investor Services published an assessment of recent economic activity within 381 U.S. metropolitan areas. Three hundred and two were already in deep recession, and 64 more were at risk. Only 15 areas were still expanding. Notable among them were the oil- and natural-resource-rich regions of Texas and Oklahoma, buoyed by energy prices that have since fallen; and the Greater Washington, D.C., region, where government bailouts, the nationalization of financial companies, and fiscal expansion are creating work for lawyers, lobbyists, political scientists, and government contractors.  [emphasis added]

- Richard Florida from "How the Crash Will Reshape America" [Atlantic]

Yes, the job market is weak but it's much better than other cities. It is the #4th strongest in the country after Houston, Dallas and San Antonio, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics.