Hogan Release: Unemployment Report Confirms That Maryland Is On Wrong Track....

Tuesday, Mar 18, 2014
Hogan:  Unemployment report confirms that Maryland is on wrong track; calls for pro-growth agenda to lower costs on families and attract employers.

Annapolis, MD - March 18 - Gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan said yesterday’s unemployment report confirmed what many Marylanders already knew, “More and more of our friends and neighbors are unemployed and our state economy remains stalled.  Clearly, the economic policies of Martin O’Malley and Anthony Brown have failed, and it’s time for new leadership and a new direction in Annapolis,” concluded Hogan.

The US Department of Labor report concluded that in January some 9,800 Marylanders joined the ranks of the unemployed.  The report also dramatically revised downward 2013’s jobs numbers for the state, concluding that last year was the worst for job creation since the 2008 - 2009 recession ended.

“The O’Malley/Brown Administration continues to drive taxpayers and job creators from Maryland and into the arms of better run, lower cost states,” said Hogan who noted that Virginia’s unemployment rate remains 16 percent lower than that of Maryland.  In fact, the overall cost of living and doing business is considerably less in Virginia where the price of energy and gasoline along with income and sales taxes are significantly lower than in Maryland.  

Hogan, a business leader and former Maryland state cabinet secretary, favors a pro-growth agenda that combines reigning in Annapolis spending, jump starting the economy by cutting taxes on workers and their employers, and aggressively courting larger employers which in recent years have left Maryland for Virginia and other states.