Change Maryland Releases New Figures on County-Level Employment

*see technical note following release

Annapolis - Change Maryland released new figures today on county employment levels following the release of the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages (QCEW) program on January 8.

Under the program, Maryland's 24 jurisdictions can be measured on employment levels over time periods. By comparing the annual year-end average against other years, the data shows multiple-year trends for each jurisdiction.

The largest population centers of Prince George's, Baltimore County, and Baltimore City have lost the most jobs, in total numbers, from 2007 to 2011. These jurisdictions, on average, experienced employment level declines ranging from 16,000 to 17,000 each. Just two counties – St. Mary's and Howard – gained jobs during that time.

“Coming out of the recession, we're just not posting strong gains consistently, across the state,” said Change Maryland Communications and Policy Director Jim Pettit. “And we're finding that our largest jurisdictions are pulling employment levels down, and we need to see an opposite trend in order to restore economic performance statewide."

In percentage terms, St. Mary's and Howard led the state in job growth with gains of over 6% and nearly 3%, respectively. In percentage terms, eastern shore counties Kent, Cecil and Talbot led in declines with employment levels dropping on average just over 9%. 

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Background:
County Employment Annual.pdf (161.5 KB)
attachment: county employment annual
county-by-county analysis, p.1
county rankings, p.19

*Technical note: On January 15, Change Maryland issued the press release, “Sharp Divergence in Maryland Counties' Job Growth, Economic Performance.” That release uses a different baseline to calculate employment levels, which caused wider fluctuations in some jurisdiction's ranking, particularly Worcester county. Unlike state-level employment data, county-level data is not seasonally-adjusted. BLS, in county-level tables and in its technical documentation, does not disclose this. Change Maryland made further inquiries to BLS. BLS recommends comparing annual averages to help account for preliminary data and monthly fluctuations. 2012 data is preliminary; 2011 is not. Therefore, this release analyzes years 2007 to 2011, comparing the average employment levels for those years.