Mid-Atlantic Information Office

Baltimore Area Employment – March 2011 (PDF)

Total nonfarm employment for the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,255,700 in March 2011, down 5,300 or 0.4 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nationally, employment rose 1.0 percent from March a year ago. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the recent decline in the Baltimore area was the largest over-the-year decrease since March 2010. (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 2010 to March 2011, the government supersector lost more jobs than any other industry in the Baltimore area, down 4,900. The employment decline was due to the loss of 7,500 jobs in local government—the largest over-the-year decrease since August 2004. Moderating this loss were job increases in both federal government (1,600) and state government (1,000) over the year. Overall, public sector employment declined 2.1 percent in Baltimore and 1.6 percent nationally since March 2010.

The financial activities supersector had the second-largest loss of jobs locally, down 2,200 over the 12-month period. The rate of job loss in this industry, at 3.0 percent, was much faster than the national decrease of 0.4 percent. Baltimore City accounted for over half of the employment loss in financial activities, shedding 1,200 jobs. (See chart 2.)

Though manufacturing added jobs nationally over the year, up 1.8 percent, the industry continued to lose jobs locally, decreasing by 2,100 or 3.4 percent. Also losing jobs in the Baltimore area was the information supersector, down 1,700 or 7.5 percent; employment in this industry declined faster than the U.S. average of 1.4 percent.

The professional and business services supersector gained 4,100 jobs from March 2010 to March 2011, more than any other industry in the Baltimore area; still, the local rate of growth, at 2.3 percent, lagged the national increase of 3.3 percent. All of this industry’s employment growth in the metropolitan area was located in the suburbs, as Baltimore City lost 1,200 jobs over the year.

Education and health services also experienced a 12-month employment gain in the Baltimore area, up 2,100. This industry, which employed nearly one-fifth of the workforce and was the largest in the area as of March 2011, has recorded uninterrupted employment advances since September 2003. The local rate of job growth for education and health services, at 0.9 percent, was slower than the nationwide rate of 2.1 percent from March 2010 to March 2011.

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 in which State employment security agencies prepare the data using concepts, definitions, and technical procedures prescribed by 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/.

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.

Additional information

Industry employment data for states and metropolitan areas from the CES program are also available in the above-mentioned news releases and from the Internet at (www.bls.gov/sae/). 

For personal assistance or further information on the Current Employment Statistics program, as well as other Bureau programs, contact the Mid-Atlantic Information Office at 215-597-3282 from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. ET.

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 2010	Jan 2011	Feb 2011	Mar 2011 (1)	Mar 2010 to Mar 2011 (1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		128,584	128,183	128,982	129,907	1,323	1.0
Mining and logging		668	723	726	744	76	11.4
Construction		5,213	5,067	5,074	5,183	-30	-0.6
Manufacturing		11,367	11,514	11,532	11,575	208	1.8
Trade, transportation, and utilities		24,278	24,538	24,379	24,522	244	1.0
Information		2,715	2,663	2,679	2,678	-37	-1.4
Financial activities		7,606	7,560	7,561	7,573	-33	-0.4
Professional and business services		16,343	16,601	16,736	16,879	536	3.3
Education and health services		19,599	19,670	19,925	20,019	420	2.1
Leisure and hospitality		12,578	12,399	12,531	12,774	196	1.6
Other services		5,304	5,344	5,384	5,413	109	2.1
Government		22,913	22,104	22,455	22,547	-366	-1.6
Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,261.0	1,242.7	1,247.6	1,255.7	-5.3	-0.4
Mining, logging, and construction		64.9	63.6	63.7	64.6	-0.3	-0.5
Manufacturing		61.8	60.0	59.8	59.7	-2.1	-3.4
Trade, transportation, & utilities		220.9	225.3	221.3	221.4	0.5	0.2
Information		22.6	20.5	20.6	20.9	-1.7	-7.5
Financial activities		73.3	71.1	71.2	71.1	-2.2	-3.0
Professional & business services		180.7	182.5	184.5	184.8	4.1	2.3
Education & health services		238.8	238.0	239.7	240.9	2.1	0.9
Leisure & hospitality		107.4	104.1	103.8	106.6	-0.8	-0.7
Other services		55.2	54.6	54.2	55.2	0.0	0.0
Government		235.4	223.0	228.8	230.5	-4.9	-2.1
Baltimore City
Total Nonfarm		352.7	341.9	345.8	348.2	-4.5	-1.3
Mining, logging, and construction		9.4	8.8	8.7	8.9	-0.5	-5.3
Manufacturing		13.3	12.6	12.6	12.6	-0.7	-5.3
Trade, transportation, & utilities		36.3	36.2	35.9	36.4	0.1	0.3
Information		4.1	4.0	4.0	4.0	-0.1	-2.4
Financial activities		18.0	16.8	16.8	16.8	-1.2	-6.7
Professional & business services		37.7	36.7	36.8	36.5	-1.2	-3.2
Education & health services		108.4	108.1	109.3	109.8	1.4	1.3
Leisure & hospitality		23.3	22.3	22.3	23.0	-0.3	-1.3
Other services		17.2	16.8	16.8	17.0	-0.2	-1.2
Government		85.0	79.6	82.6	83.2	-1.8	-2.1
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