American City Business Journals ranked the District the No. 1 job market in the country this month, giving soon-to-be GW graduates a potential advantage in their search for employment.

The District claimed the number one spot after it added more than 61,800 jobs since last year, an improvement from its previously-held third place spot a month ago.

The District’s job growth is currently at 2.8 percent, and the unemployment rate is 5.9 percent, 1.9 percent less than the national average.

Sixty percent of the Class of 2009 graduated with a full- or part-time job, according to Career Center surveys taken by graduates. The data from the Class of 2010 has not been completed yet, Career Center Communications Coordinator Jeff Dagley said.

He added that the employment rates for the Classes of 2010 and 2011 are not expected to vary much from the Class of 2009.

Senior Selena Strandberg said the key to getting her new job after graduation was her persistence and determination in finding internships during her four years at GW.

She said GW’s on-campus recruiting was helpful when it came time to start the job search.

“I definitely had to do the leg work the previous three years of college. My resume wouldn’t have even made it past the first round if I hadn’t studied hard and interned at a variety of different places,” Strandberg said.

Employers have increased their original hiring projections for the first time since 2007, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers Job Outlook 2011 Spring Update. Hiring by industry has increased in nearly all areas except the government. The 25.5 percent drop in hires in the government is the biggest percent change in the survey for National Association of Colleges and Employers’s Spring Update.

Dagley said that he does not expect this to affect the employment rate for graduating seniors.

“We don’t expect [the rate] to change much from the past few years, employment hovering in the 60 [percent] to 70 percent range,” he said.