Maryland payroll employment stabilizing

Between May and June 2009, Maryland nonfarm payrolls shrank by a modest 1,100 jobs (seasonally adjusted) for an annualized loss rate of 0.5 percent. Job cutbacks in Other Services, Government, Educational Services and Financial Activities outweighed gains in Leisure & Hospitality and Retail Trade [Table 1].

Maryland’s nonfarm payroll employment level has been in a holding pattern the past four months, softening the effects of the past year of declines [Figure 1]. June payrolls were only 500 jobs lower than the March to May average. This change is largely the result of improvements in two sectors that alone accounted for more than two-thirds of Maryland’s job losses the past year—Construction & Mining and Retail Trade [Figure 2]. Construction & Mining employment was unchanged in June, ending fifteen consecutive months of losses. Retail Trade posted its third monthly job gain in a row, after having lost jobs in fourteen out of fifteen previous months. [Table 2] displays month-to-month job changes for selected Maryland industrial sectors.

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