Baltimore Area Employment – March 2013

Rate of Employment Growth Faster than the National Average

Total nonfarm employment for the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,333,000 in March 2013, up 27,400 or 2.1 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nationally, employment rose 1.5 percent from March a year ago. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the March increase was the 36th consecutive month of over-the-year job gains in the area. (See chart 1 and table 1; Technical Note at end of release contains the metropolitan area definition. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

From March 2012 to March 2013, the Baltimore area added 10,900 jobs in professional and business services, more than in any other supersector. More than half of the increase was in Baltimore City, up 5,800 jobs despite representing less than one-quarter of the area’s employment in this industry. Overall, professional and business services employment grew 5.4 percent in the Baltimore area, faster than the national advance of 3.2 percent, since March 2012. (See chart 2.)

The mining, logging, and construction supersector had the second-largest job gain locally, up 7,700 over the 12-month period. Almost all of the local employment increase from March 2012 to March 2013 occurred in the suburban counties, which added 7,100 jobs. The rate of job growth, 11.5 percent, was the industry’s fastest in over 16 years in the Baltimore area.

Four other supersectors gained more than 1,000 jobs from March a year ago in the Baltimore area—trade, transportation, and utilities; education and health services; leisure and hospitality; and financial activities. With the exception of the leisure and hospitality supersector, each industry had a faster growth rate in Baltimore than nationwide.

The manufacturing supersector lost 3,800 jobs from March 2012 to March 2013. The majority of the decline was in the suburban counties, which lost 3,500 jobs over the year. The local rate of decline for manufacturing employment was 6.4 percent; nationally, this supersector gained jobs at a rate of 0.7 percent.

Government was the only other industry to lose more than 1,000 jobs in the Baltimore area, down 2,600 from March 2012. The 1.1-percent local decrease was much faster than the 0.3-percent national decline.

Technical Note

This release presents nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the Current Employment Statistics (CES) program. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative endeavor between State employment security agencies and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period which includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their place of work rather than at their place of residence; those appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll. Industries are classified on the basis of their principal activity in accordance with the 2007 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a “link relative” technique in which a ratio (link relative) of current-month employment to that of the previous month is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official estimators for approximately 39 percent of CES published series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based estimates.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally from tax reports which are submitted by employers who are covered under state unemployment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates. The estimates presented in this release are based on sample survey and administrative data and thus are subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error is a measure of sampling variability—that is, variation that occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire population is surveyed. Survey data are also subject to nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional errors resulting from the special estimation processes used. The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals shown in the same tables because of rounding.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES data at the supersector level are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment and Earnings, which is available online at www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm. Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the Current Employment Statistics program are also available in the above mentioned news releases and from the Internet at www.bls.gov/sae/.

Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired individuals upon request. Voice phone:  (202) 691-5200; Federal Relay Service:  (800) 877-8339.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, dated December 1, 2009. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Baltimore-Towson, Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s Counties and Baltimore City in Maryland.

Table 1. Employees on nonfarm payrolls by industry supersector, United States, the Baltimore-Towson metropolitan area,
and Baltimore City, not seasonally adjusted (in thousands)

Area	Back data	Mar 2012	Jan 2013	Feb 2013	Mar 2013 (1)	Mar 2012 to Mar 2013 (1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		132,505	132,704	133,726	134,485	1,980	1.5
Mining and logging		836	846	852	855	19	2.3
Construction		5,313	5,340	5,370	5,487	174	3.3
Manufacturing		11,822	11,860	11,877	11,902	80	0.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities		25,082	25,614	25,420	25,468	386	1.5
Information		2,672	2,640	2,705	2,703	31	1.2
Financial activities		7,726	7,791	7,803	7,809	83	1.1
Professional and business services		17,601	17,841	18,024	18,157	556	3.2
Education and health services		20,377	20,375	20,657	20,739	362	1.8
Leisure and hospitality		13,334	13,264	13,389	13,645	311	2.3
Other services		5,394	5,406	5,424	5,440	46	0.9
Government		22,348	21,727	22,205	22,280	-68	-0.3
Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,305.6	1,312.1	1,322.3	1,333.0	27.4	2.1
Mining, logging, and construction		66.7	70.6	70.7	74.4	7.7	11.5
Manufacturing		59.7	56.2	55.7	55.9	-3.8	-6.4
Trade, transportation, & utilities		230.9	238.6	237.2	237.1	6.2	2.7
Information		17.1	16.8	16.9	17.0	-0.1	-0.6
Financial activities		73.7	74.1	74.6	75.0	1.3	1.8
Professional & business services		202.0	210.4	210.8	212.9	10.9	5.4
Education & health services		247.5	249.1	252.1	252.8	5.3	2.1
Leisure & hospitality		114.5	115.9	116.0	117.0	2.5	2.2
Other services		54.5	54.0	54.6	54.5	0.0	0.0
Government		239.0	226.4	233.7	236.4	-2.6	-1.1
Baltimore City
Total Nonfarm		357.4	354.9	360.1	363.1	5.7	1.6
Mining, logging, and construction		9.5	9.8	9.9	10.1	0.6	6.3
Manufacturing		12.3	12.1	12.0	12.0	-0.3	-2.4
Trade, transportation, & utilities		41.0	40.6	40.7	40.9	-0.1	-0.2
Information		4.1	4.1	4.1	4.1	0.0	0.0
Financial activities		18.2	18.2	18.2	18.3	0.1	0.5
Professional & business services		40.4	44.7	45.8	46.2	5.8	14.4
Education & health services		111.9	111.5	112.9	113.6	1.7	1.5
Leisure & hospitality		24.8	25.2	25.1	26.1	1.3	5.2
Other services		16.1	15.5	15.6	15.7	-0.4	-2.5
Government		79.1	73.2	75.8	76.1	-3.0	-3.8
Footnotes (1) State and regional data for the most recent month are preliminary; U.S. data are preliminary for two months.
SOURCE: Current Employment Statistics - National - State and Metropolitan Area The Current Employment Statistics (CES) Survey is a monthly survey of business establishments which provides estimates of employment, hours, and earnings data by industry for the nation as a whole, all States, and most major metropolitan areas since 1939. The CES survey is a Federal-State cooperative program in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Return to Mid-Atlantic Information Office Homepage menu

Last Modified Date: May 3, 2013