Total nonfarm employment for the Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) stood at 1,335,500 in March 2014, up 13,000 or 1.0 percent over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Nationally, employment rose 1.6 percent from March a year ago. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the March increase was the 48th consecutive month of over-the-year job gains in the area. (See chart 1 and table 1; The Technical Note at the end of this 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 2013 to March 2014, the Baltimore area added 6,300 jobs in professional and business services, more than in any other supersector. Professional and business services employment grew 3.0 percent in the Baltimore area, slower than the national advance of 3.6 percent, since March 2013. (See chart 2.)

Leisure and hospitality had the second-largest gain locally, adding 4,600 jobs over the 12-month period. The local rate of job growth in leisure and hospitality at 3.9 percent was faster than the U.S. rate of 2.9 percent. All of the local employment increase for leisure and hospitality from March 2013 to March 2014 occurred in the counties outside Baltimore City.

Two other supersectors gained more than 1,000 jobs from March a year ago in the Baltimore area—mining, logging, and construction and education and health services. Each of these supersectors added 4,100 jobs over the year. Both locally and nationally, education and health services grew at 1.6 percent.

 

In the Baltimore area, government employment declined by 2,200 jobs from March 2013 to March 2014. The majority of the decline was in Baltimore City, which lost 1,800 jobs over the year. The local rate of decline for government employment was 0.9 percent; nationally, government employment was down 0.1 percent.

Manufacturing and financial activities were the only other industries to lose more than 1,000 jobs in the Baltimore area, down 2.3 and 1.5 percent, respectively. Nationally, each of these industries rose 0.7 percent.

 

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.

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/additional-resources/reliability-of-state-and-area-estimates.htm. Information on recent benchmark revisions for states is available at www.bls.gov/sae/.

 

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

Area	Back data	Mar 2013	Jan 2014	Feb 2014	Mar 2014 (1)	Mar 2013 to Mar 2014 (1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		134,917	135,451	136,192	137,136	2,219	1.6
Mining and logging		847	873	875	884	37	4.4
Construction		5,501	5,533	5,529	5,655	154	2.8
Manufacturing		11,935	11,949	11,979	12,017	82	0.7
Trade, transportation, and utilities		25,366	26,014	25,771	25,877	511	2.0
Information		2,694	2,634	2,646	2,653	-41	-1.5
Financial activities		7,813	7,846	7,861	7,869	56	0.7
Professional and business services		18,173	18,560	18,696	18,833	660	3.6
Education and health services		21,153	21,132	21,388	21,486	333	1.6
Leisure and hospitality		13,740	13,783	13,873	14,145	405	2.9
Other services		5,422	5,416	5,429	5,462	40	0.7
Government		22,273	21,711	22,145	22,255	-18	-0.1
Baltimore-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,322.5	1,316.2	1,323.3	1,335.5	13.0	1.0
Mining, logging, and construction		67.1	71.8	69.6	71.2	4.1	6.1
Manufacturing		57.6	55.7	55.7	56.3	-1.3	-2.3
Trade, transportation, & utilities		232.7	234.6	231.9	232.8	0.1	0.0
Information		16.9	16.1	16.0	16.0	-0.9	-5.3
Financial activities		75.5	75.5	75.4	74.4	-1.1	-1.5
Professional & business services		211.8	216.1	217.3	218.1	6.3	3.0
Education & health services		251.6	251.8	253.0	255.7	4.1	1.6
Leisure & hospitality		119.1	117.5	120.7	123.7	4.6	3.9
Other services		53.9	53.1	52.0	53.2	-0.7	-1.3
Government		236.3	224.0	231.7	234.1	-2.2	-0.9
Baltimore City
Total Nonfarm		359.4	353.7	357.0	359.5	0.1	0.0
Mining, logging, and construction		9.3	9.3	9.2	9.6	0.3	3.2
Manufacturing		12.1	11.9	11.8	11.9	-0.2	-1.7
Trade, transportation, & utilities		40.4	39.3	39.1	39.2	-1.2	-3.0
Information		3.8	3.8	3.7	3.7	-0.1	-2.6
Financial activities		17.8	17.8	17.9	17.9	0.1	0.6
Professional & business services		45.0	47.1	47.2	47.2	2.2	4.9
Education & health services		112.6	112.6	113.3	113.6	1.0	0.9
Leisure & hospitality		26.8	25.1	25.5	26.4	-0.4	-1.5
Other services		16.1	16.1	16.1	16.3	0.2	1.2
Government		75.5	70.7	73.2	73.7	-1.8	-2.4
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