Medical appliance technicians job market in District of Columbia

Industries associated with Medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia sent mixed signals in January to March 2026. Employment in these industries fell 1.1% year over year, compared with a 0.4% decline nationally. The number of establishments rose 2.2% year over year, compared with a 2.3% increase nationally. Average weekly wages across these industries rose 7.0% year over year, compared with a 4.4% increase nationally.

BLS QCEW data for January to March 2026 covers at least 46.85% of the published industry mix for Medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia. These are weighted industry-level signals, not direct measures of Medical appliance technicians jobs, current openings, or pay.

Limited local data: at least one local trend covers only 46.85% of this occupation's industry mix. These figures describe the industries with published data. Read each trend alongside its state data coverage.

Limited industry data for medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia

In early 2026, employment in the available industry data was down 1.1% from a year earlier, compared with a 0.4% decline nationwide.

These are industry-wide trends, not a count of jobs in this occupation or current openings.

Current market signals

Recent statewide layoff-notice context alongside the published BLS figures below. This signal does not feed the Job Market Health score.

Listed WARN records in District of Columbia

Partial list

Partial list. Partial listed-record coverage: DOES posts WARN notices on its annual table when received, but the table does not certify that every notice is listed or how current it is. Rows are dated by the published Notice Date (the day DOES received the notice); effective layoff dates and ranges are kept as published and never used as notice dates. "TBD" and amended worker counts are unknown. No month or District total is treated as complete; missing records are unknown, not zero.

Notices listed in the DOES 2026 WARN notifications table — observed, not complete monthly totals
Month of notice dateListed notices
Feb 20262
Mar 20262
Apr 20263
May 20261
Jul 20264
Aug 20262
Sep 20263
Listed notices counted17

Statewide, current-month and three-month totals are unavailable. Months not shown are unknown, not zero. Effective layoff dates are not used as notice dates.

District of Columbia Department of Employment Services

Source last checked . This check does not certify a newly published report.

Indeed job postings · District of Columbia

Recent hiring-demand context · separate from the health score

70.6Postings index · February 1, 2020 = 100Observation: Oct 23, 2026
-29.4%Versus the February 2020 baseline
-0.9%Change over about four weeksSep 25, 2026 to Oct 23, 2026

This is statewide demand across all occupations, not demand for this specific job. Postings are not a count of vacancies or hires, and Indeed does not cover the entire labor market.

Source: Indeed Hiring Lab · CC BY 4.0. Seven-day average, seasonally adjusted; publisher refreshes weekly and may revise history. Retrieved Nov 1, 2026 · saved source copy. JobMarketHealth calculates the displayed changes and samples weekly observations for the chart.

Explore states and career fields · Methodology and limits

-1.1%Industry employmentU.S. -0.4%State data coverage: 46.85%
+2.2%EstablishmentsU.S. +2.3%State data coverage: 46.85%
+7.0%Avg. weekly industry wageU.S. +4.4%State data coverage: 46.85%
9,256Represented establishmentsEstablishments in the industries that employ this occupation, not employers hiring itIndustry mix share 95.5%, separate from the data coverage on the trend cards

Industry employment change over time

Year-over-year change for the industries that employ Medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia · percentage change

Year-over-year employment change (%) by reference quarter

Latest published values
  • District of Columbia · 2026 Q1Not published

The chart will load automatically. Published values remain available in this report.

Every published quarter

BLS does not publish a national quarterly series for this occupation’s industry mix, so only the District of Columbia series is shown. The U.S. figure on the cards above is the latest quarter benchmark.

Quarterly year-over-year industry employment change for Medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia, with the published state data coverage for each quarter
QuarterDistrict of ColumbiaState data coverage
2024 Q2+3.6%100%
2024 Q3+3.6%100%
2024 Q40.0% Below coverage floor46.85%
2025 Q1+0.3% Below coverage floor46.85%
2025 Q2+0.3% Below coverage floor46.85%
2025 Q3-0.3% Below coverage floor46.85%
2025 Q40.0% Below coverage floor46.85%
2026 Q1-1.1% Below coverage floor46.85%

Industry mix behind this view

Which industries are weighted into this view. Not a ranking of employers or of job quality.

Industries weighted into the local context for Medical appliance technicians in District of Columbia
Industry groupShare of occupation employmentLocal employment changeEstablishmentsAvg. weekly wage
Manufacturing Suppressed by BLS52.7%SuppressedSuppressedSuppressed
Trade, transportation, and utilities22.3%-2.5%2,020$1,480
Private education and health services19.6%+1.1%7,236$1,674
Professional and business services4.5%-4.2%18,577$3,573
QCEW release
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
January to March 2026
BLS publication date
August 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified September 17, 2026
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035

The publication date above is the official BLS news release date for this reference quarter, linked to the notice. The values match the snapshot independently checked against BLS sources on September 17, 2026. The publication date identifies the quarterly news release, not the exact revision date. The data period above is the quarter the figures describe.

QCEW describes the industries that employ this occupation, not the occupation itself. It is not a count of job openings and is not part of the 0-100 Job Market Health score.

Evidence record

Derived by JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix. This is occupation-weighted industry context, not direct occupation employment and not a count of current job openings.

Occupation
Medical appliance technicians
SOC code
51-9082
State
District of Columbia
QCEW release label
QCEW 2026 Q1
Data period
2026 Q1
State industry employment, year over year
-1.1%State data coverage 46.85%
U.S. benchmark, year over year
-0.4%
Difference from U.S. benchmark
-0.7 percentage pointsPercentage-point gaps use the original published values and are rounded once; subtracting the rounded percentages can give a slightly different result.
Establishments, year over year
+2.2%State data coverage 46.85%
Average weekly industry wage, year over year
+7.0%State data coverage 46.85%
Industry mix vintage
EP-2025-2035
BLS publication date
Aug 28, 2026
Source verification
Verified against the committed source snapshotVerified Sep 17, 2026
Canonical record URL
https://jobmarkethealth.com/occupations/medical-appliance-technicians/district-of-columbia#evidence-record
Derived by
JobMarketHealth from BLS QCEW + published occupation industry mix

AI & this occupation

How AI relates to Medical appliance technicians work

Across 4 research exposure measures, Medical appliance technicians is in the lower technical AI exposure band based on the mean of the available source-specific percentile ranks. Exposure describes how much of the work the studied AI capabilities could technically assist with; it is not a forecast of job loss.

The saved Anthropic task-exposure benchmark records a zero index for this occupation. This is not proof of no AI use; the observation window is not recorded in this saved release.

JobMarketHealth has not measured an AI effect on this occupation's employment or wages, and these figures do not enter its scores; there is no clear evidence of displacement in the data shown here.

Technical AI exposureLower exposureMean of 4 available source-specific percentile ranks (4 measures checked); fixed exposure bands, not a national rank of the composite
Dated Claude task exposureLower thirdObserved task-exposure benchmark 0.000; observation window not recorded
Business AI use (BTOS Core)24.6%U.S. businesses using AI, two weeks ending 2026-10-04; all industries, not this occupation
Historical task mix (2025)Not enough tasksFewer than 3 observed tasks
Measured labor-market effectNot estimatedJobMarketHealth does not attribute employment or wage changes to AI

Exposure measures (kept separate)

  • GPTs are GPTs exposure (β, GPT-4 rated): 0.14 of 1, national percentile 26 (lower third)
  • Microsoft AI applicability: 0.04 of 1, national percentile 8 (lower third)
  • AIOE (Felten, Raj & Seamans): -0.49 (standardized), national percentile 39 (middle third)
  • OECD AI Capability Gap (lower gap = higher potential exposure): gap 3.5 of 23, national percentile 45 (middle third)
OECD capability gap by domain

As published by the OECD: the gap between what the occupation demands (0-5) and current AI capability in each domain. A lower gap means AI is closer to the requirement (higher potential exposure); 0 means AI already meets it or the domain is not relevant.

  • Language: gap 0.00 (demand 2.45 of 5)
  • Social interaction: gap 0.75 (demand 2.75 of 5)
  • Problem solving: gap 0.65 (demand 2.65 of 5)
  • Creativity: gap 0.00 (demand 2.00 of 5)
  • Metacognition & critical thinking: gap 0.55 (demand 2.55 of 5)
  • Knowledge, learning & memory: gap 0.10 (demand 3.10 of 5)
  • Vision: gap 0.70 (demand 3.70 of 5)
  • Manipulation: gap 1.90 (demand 3.90 of 5)
  • Robotic intelligence: gap 1.05 (demand 3.05 of 5)

National context: what businesses used generative AI for

From the Census 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (all industries; businesses whose employees used generative AI). Census did not measure Medical appliance technicians specifically.

  • Writing or editing documents, emails, or communications: 85.4%
  • Searching for information or technical help: 49.9%
  • Interpreting, analyzing, translating, or summarizing documents: 44.6%
  • Information processing, paperwork, or filing: 34.7%

District of Columbia context

In the Census BTOS core AI-use question, an estimated 34.1% of District of Columbia employer businesses reported using AI in the two weeks ending 2026-10-04 (U.S.: 24.6%).

Separately, the one-time 2025-26 BTOS AI Supplement (collected 2025-11-17 to 2026-02-08) found 23.0% of District of Columbia businesses using AI at that time, and 24.6% reporting that employees used generative AI for work tasks in the prior six months. It describes how AI was being used then, not a trend.

Using each occupation's exposure band and District of Columbia employment weights (OEWS May 2025), 40.3% of covered jobs are in occupations in the higher-exposure band. This describes the state's occupation mix, not a measured AI effect.

Exposure and observed usage are separate measures and neither equals job loss. Census BTOS figures are business-level surveys and are not occupation-specific. Sources: GPTs are GPTs occupation exposure; Microsoft Working with AI: AI applicability; AI Occupational Exposure (AIOE); OECD AI Exposure Measure (AI Capability Gap); Anthropic Economic Index; Census BTOS Core AI Use; Census BTOS AI Supplement 2025-26. These figures do not affect Job Market Health scores. Explore AI & Jobs · How we use AI data.

How to read this page

QCEW measures employment and wages by industry, not by occupation. We weight those industry conditions using the published industry mix for Medical appliance technicians. These figures describe the industries that employ Medical appliance technicians; they are not direct counts of people working in the occupation or of jobs currently open. This page is not part of the national 0 to 100 Job Market Health score.

Source: BLS QCEW. See the methodology, the national Medical appliance technicians report and about the data.

Compare District of Columbia with other statesPublished industry employment, business locations and average weekly industry wages for up to three states, with the national benchmark in percentage points.

Medical appliance technicians in other states

Choose another state below to explore its available industry context.