Figures released by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation on March 7 show a slight drop in unemployment, from 3.9 percent in December to 3.8 percent for January, lower than the national average of 4.6 percent. However, only 700 new jobs in the professional and business services, construction and leisure and hospitality industries were added to the state?s economy.
“It?s a relatively quiet and stable start to the new year,” DLLR Secretary Tom Perez said. “Maryland is fortunate to be among the top states for low unemployment and a high number of working state residents,” he said in a written statement.
These numbers, which are not seasonally adjusted, may mean that area employers are slow to add more jobs because of the lack of available in-state talent.
“When you look at the numbers, it is not inconsistent to have low job growth and low unemployment,” said local economist Richard Clinch, director of economic research at the University of Baltimore?s Jacob France Institute.
“Here in Maryland, worker shortages have become a binding constraint for continued economic growth in the high-tech, medical and education fields, which are experiencing the most difficulty in finding workers,” he said.
Clinch said that many Marylanders are working in Northern Virginia and the District of Columbia, and local jurisdictions such as Howard, Anne Arundel, Harford and Carroll counties can?t find local workers because of it.
Lower-skilled workers in Baltimore City, for instance, are forced to take lower-paying jobs because of the lack of a public transportation infrastructure to take them to these higher-paying jobs in the surrounding counties, according to Clinch.
The impact of the loss of in-state skilled workers to surrounding states is being felt by area recruiters, as well.
“We are finding a shortage of in-state licensed professionals to fill our vacancies,” said Scott Robertson, area manager for Staffing Plus, a regional firm that recruits workers in the medical field for Maryland. “Many of our professionals carry multi-licenses for Maryland, D.C., Pennsylvania and Virginia and are being recruited by and taking jobs in other states, so we are reaching out to candidates from other states to come here and fill the need in the Maryland market.”
Forecasting Maryland?s future, Clinch says, “What we are seeing is that Maryland is quickly approaching its limits of growth.”
