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Maryland’s unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2 percent in February

March 24th, 2018 by WCBC Radio

Maryland lost more than 3,200 jobs in February, causing the state’s unemployment rate to tick up to 4.2 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said Friday.

The state’s jobless rate had been at 4.1 percent since November, mirroring the national figure until last month, when the U.S. rate held steady as Maryland’s edged up.

“The recent labor market for Maryland has not been positive to put it mildly,” said Andy Bauer, a senior regional economist in the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “The outlook according to the latest data suggests the labor market in Maryland has kind of stalled over last 6 months. The overall job decline was not huge, but over the past six months to a year it’s been basically flat.”

The state’s employment base was eroded by 4,800 job loses in the professional and business services sector, 900 jobs lost in leisure and hospitality and 700 jobs lost in financial services.

Those losses were offset by the addition of 1,500 construction jobs, 900 manufacturing jobs and 1,700 jobs in trade, transportation and utilities.

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