Total nonfarm employment for the Baltimore-Towson, Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,339,100 in March 2015, up 15,100, or 1.1 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 2.3 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the Baltimore area’s March increase was its 60th consecutive month of over-the-year employment gains. (See chart 1 and table 1; the Technical Note at the end of this release contains metropolitan area definitions. All data in this release are not seasonally adjusted; accordingly, over-the-year analysis is used throughout.)

Industry employment

From March 2014 to March 2015, the Baltimore metropolitan area added 5,500 jobs in leisure and hospitality, more than in any other supersector. Leisure and hospitality employment grew 4.5 percent in the Baltimore area, faster than the national advance of 3.4 percent since March 2014. (See chart 2.) Most of the local employment increase for leisure and hospitality occurred in Baltimore City.  Employment in education and health services increased by 2,900 since last March, the area’s second-largest gain. Locally, the over-the-year growth rate for this supersector (1.1 percent) was less than one-half of that for the nation (2.5 percent).

Four other supersectors (professional and business services; financial activities; trade, transportation, and utilities; and other services) in the Baltimore area gained at least 1,000 jobs from March 2014 to March 2015. The local rates of increase for financial activities and other services (2.8 and 2.3 percent, respectively) were higher than the national rates for both supersectors (1.9 and 1.3 percent, respectively). In both professional and business services and trade, transportation, and utilities, the local rates of growth lagged those for the nation.

No supersector in the Baltimore metropolitan area had any employment loss greater than 1,000 jobs.

Metropolitan area employment data for April 2015 are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, May 27, 2015, at 10:00 a.m. (ET).

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 2012 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/.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the deliniations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on February 29, 2013. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

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

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.

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 2014	Jan 2015	Feb 2015	Mar 2015 (1)	Mar 2014 to Mar 2015 (1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		137,214	138,671	139,503	140,326	3,112	2.3
Mining and logging		868	893	878	870	2	0.2
Construction		5,746	5,920	5,929	6,025	279	4.9
Manufacturing		12,061	12,212	12,228	12,256	195	1.6
Trade, transportation, and utilities		25,852	26,546	26,349	26,451	599	2.3
Information		2,719	2,739	2,770	2,777	58	2.1
Financial activities		7,889	8,016	8,024	8,040	151	1.9
Professional and business services		18,685	19,124	19,230	19,344	659	3.5
Education and health services		21,465	21,629	21,917	22,011	546	2.5
Leisure and hospitality		14,181	14,271	14,417	14,664	483	3.4
Other services		5,523	5,549	5,573	5,597	74	1.3
Government		22,225	21,772	22,188	22,291	66	0.3
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,324.0	1,327.6	1,338.4	1,339.1	15.1	1.1
Mining, logging, and construction		68.7	70.4	69.0	68.1	-0.6	-0.9
Manufacturing		54.2	55.6	55.2	54.8	0.6	1.1
Trade, transportation, & utilities		231.2	234.0	232.1	232.5	1.3	0.6
Information		16.4	15.4	15.7	15.8	-0.6	-3.7
Financial activities		75.6	78.3	78.5	77.7	2.1	2.8
Professional & business services		215.3	215.7	219.6	217.8	2.5	1.2
Education & health services		255.4	257.0	258.8	258.3	2.9	1.1
Leisure & hospitality		122.2	124.0	125.3	127.7	5.5	4.5
Other services		52.3	53.2	52.9	53.5	1.2	2.3
Government		232.7	224.0	231.3	232.9	0.2	0.1
Baltimore City
Total Nonfarm		358.2	357.4	362.7	364.2	6.0	1.7
Mining, logging, and construction		9.7	10.1	10.0	10.1	0.4	4.1
Manufacturing		11.5	11.7	11.6	11.6	0.1	0.9
Trade, transportation, & utilities		40.5	40.5	40.3	40.7	0.2	0.5
Information		3.7	3.6	3.6	3.6	-0.1	-2.7
Financial activities		16.9	17.5	17.5	17.5	0.6	3.6
Professional & business services		47.0	46.0	47.9	46.5	-0.5	-1.1
Education & health services		113.7	110.5	110.6	111.7	-2.0	-1.8
Leisure & hospitality		26.2	29.4	30.2	30.9	4.7	17.9
Other services		15.8	15.9	15.9	16.1	0.3	1.9
Government		73.2	72.2	75.1	75.5	2.3	3.1
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