Maryland adds 11,600 jobs in April

Posted: 10:28 am Fri, May 20, 2011
By Nicholas Sohr
Daily Record Business Writer

The 11,600 jobs added to Maryland payrolls in April are proof of the private sector’s growing confidence in the economic recovery, the state’s labor secretary says.

Private employers drove the job growth last month, adding 16,400 workers to bring the unemployment rate down to 6.8 percent, according to figures released Friday by the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

DLLR Secretary Alexander M. Sanchez said the jobs report is “incredibly encouraging, and strong evidence that Maryland is stepping out of the national recession and is poised to compete in the new economy.”

“I really see folks that are more confident in the economy at this point and are able to do the hiring they need to do for the summer,” he said.

Nearly one-third of the strong private sector growth in Maryland was offset by a loss of 4,800 government jobs, including 3,000 state positions, however.

The professional and business services sector led the job growth with 5,500 new positions, including 2,200 professional, scientific and professional jobs.

Leisure and hospitality added 3,500 positions. Manufacturing and the sector that covers transportation, warehousing and utilities added 1,700 jobs each. Construction and mining firms added 1,000. The rest of the new jobs were spread across several sectors.

The hiring reflects the results of the first quarter business confidence survey conducted by the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute.

That survey of 250 businesses showed 27 percent reported hiring, while 21 percent said employment decreased, a marked increase in the 18 percent reporting increases and 37 percent reporting decreases in the final quarter of 2010.

“We’re starting to see signs of a recovery in Maryland,” said Richard Clinch, the institute’s director of economic development.

Clinch said confidence was higher in the Washington suburbs than in the Baltimore region, likely because federal contracting, while at risk, hasn’t yet been hurt by belt-tightening in Congress.

Despite the government losses and more than 6,000 people returning to the workforce, April’s job growth was enough to lower the unemployment rate from 6.9 percent in March.

April marks the fourth straight month that the state’s unemployment rate has declined. March was the first time in two years the jobless figure slipped below the 7 percent mark.

“Largely because of the strength of our highly skilled and well-educated workforce, Maryland’s private sector employers added 16,400 jobs in April, quadrupling the national private sector rate of growth,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a written statement.