- The most recent jobs report showed that in January and February of 2023, Maryland gained a total of 3.100 Total Nonfarm jobs.
- The official unemployment rate for Maryland decreased to 2.9 percent.
According to the most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Maryland gained a total of 3,100 Total Nonfarm jobs in total across January and February of 2023. This was the result of a gain of 600 Total Private jobs, combined with a gain of 2,500 Total Government jobs. In addition, the unemployment rate decreased to 2.9 percent in February 2023. This is significantly lower than the reported rate of 4.0 percent in December 2022, as the Bureau of Labor Statistics recently revised the unemployment data for Maryland going back to 2018. This revision lowered the official unemployment rate for December 2022 to 3.0 percent, meaning that the February 2023 rate remains in line with other recent months.
Despite the drastically improved unemployment rate, it should be noted that Maryland’s revised data is not a result of there being more employment than previously believed. On the contrary, the revised figures have lower employment than the earlier data, but also substantially lower unemployment, as more than 50,000 people were removed from the labor force altogether. Since far more people were removed from the unemployment column, this results in a lower unemployment rate, but it does not necessarily suggest a stronger economy.
Between December and February, the largest subsector gain occurred in Other Services, with an increase of 3,400 jobs. This was followed by Federal Government, which added 2,600 jobs. The most significant losses were seen in Retail Trade and in Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation Services, which lost 1,900 jobs and 1,800 jobs over two months, respectively.
In great part due to the substantial revisions to the state’s unemployment data, Maryland improved to a tie for 14th among all states in unemployment rate for February 2023. Although every state was subject to data revisions at the same time, most other states did not experience the same degree of downward change. Maryland’s new unemployment rate puts it lower than all of its Mid-Atlantic neighbors, including Virginia, which had previously outperformed Maryland in employment data throughout 2022.
Between continued inflation, increasing interest rates, and the ongoing effects of both the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, Maryland’s immediate economic future remains uncertain. With the situation evolving quickly, stay tuned for more updates on how employment is changing across Maryland, the region, and the country.