The March unemployment data for Maryland are now available and they are shocking. The Free State’s unemployment rate is now on the verge of 7 percent (6.9% to be precise, the highest level since April 1992). Jurisdictional data are available through February, and they too serve as a wake-up call. Maryland’s recessionary defenses have been completely overwhelmed.

At 5.1 percent, Montgomery County enjoys Maryland’s lowest unemployment rate. But just one year ago, the county’s unemployment rate was just 2.7 percent. Similarly, Howard County’s unemployment rate has risen from 2.6 percent to 5.2 percent over the past twelve months. Baltimore City’s unemployment rate, which stood at a benign 5.6 percent in February 2008 now stands at a socially disruptive 10.4 percent. There are now ten jurisdictions in Maryland with unemployment rates exceeding nine percent. The state’s highest unemployment rate is in Worcester County (16.5 percent, up from 10.0 percent a year ago).

Without question, unemployment in Maryland is set to go much higher. By the end of the year, expect an unemployment rate standing at 8 percent or more. That would still be well below the corresponding unemployment rate expectation for the nation, which is roughly 10 percent by the end of ’09.

-AB

Category: Economic Commentary by Sage