Total nonfarm employment for the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, Md. Metropolitan Statistical Area stood at 1,401,700 in March 2018, up 21,300, or 1.5 percent, over the year, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. During the same period, the national job count increased 1.6 percent. Sheila Watkins, the Bureau’s regional commissioner, noted that the Baltimore area had over-the-year job gains each month since April 2014. (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.)

Industry employment

Education and health services had the largest annual job gain among Baltimore’s supersectors, adding 9,900 jobs since March 2017. The supersector’s 3.6-percent local rate of job growth was faster than the national rate of 1.9 percent. (See chart 2.)

Employment in professional and business services increased by 5,800 in the local area since March a year ago. The rate of local job growth for this supersector (2.6 percent) was close to the national rate (2.5 percent).

Three other supersectors—trade, transportation and utilities; mining, logging, and construction; and government—gained more than 1,000 jobs each in the Baltimore area from March 2017 to March 2018. The rate of local job growth for trade, transportation, and utilities (1.2 percent) was similar to the nation’s (1.1 percent). Baltimore’s employment growth in government was 0.7 percent, while the national rate was unchanged over the year.

No industry in the Baltimore area had a decline larger than 1,000 jobs from March 2017 to March 2018.

Metropolitan area employment data for April 2018 are scheduled to be released on Friday, May 18, 2018, 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 2017 version of the North American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. CES State and Area employment data are produced using several estimation procedures. Where possible these data are produced using a "weighted link relative" estimation technique in which a ratio of current-month weighted employment to that of the previous-month weighted employment is computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both months. The estimates of employment for the current month are then obtained by multiplying these ratios by the previous month's employment estimates. The weighted link relative technique is utilized for data series where the sample size meets certain statistical criteria.

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 the total nonfarm employment series are available for metropolitan areas and metropolitan divisions at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of sampling error for more detailed series at the area and division level are available upon request. Measures of sampling error for states down to the supersector level are available on the BLS website at www.bls.gov/web/laus/790stderr.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are not available for the areas contained in this news release. Information on recent benchmark revisions is available online at www.bls.gov/web/laus/benchmark.pdf.

Area definitions. The substate area data published in this release reflect the delineations issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget on July 15, 2015. A detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

The Baltimore-Columbia-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 2017	Jan 2018	Feb 2018	Mar 2018(1)	Mar 2017 to Mar 2018(1)
						Net change	Percent change
United States
Total nonfarm		145,078	145,435	146,667	147,332	2,254	1.6
Mining and logging		650	693	702	712	62	9.5
Construction		6,634	6,692	6,797	6,880	246	3.7
Manufacturing		12,340	12,481	12,533	12,575	235	1.9
Trade, transportation, and utilities		27,104	27,463	27,329	27,410	306	1.1
Information		2,803	2,723	2,752	2,751	-52	-1.9
Financial activities		8,363	8,457	8,489	8,499	136	1.6
Professional and business services		20,070	20,326	20,469	20,568	498	2.5
Education and health services		23,185	23,241	23,590	23,622	437	1.9
Leisure and hospitality		15,524	15,440	15,594	15,824	300	1.9
Other services		5,712	5,751	5,780	5,797	85	1.5
Government		22,693	22,168	22,632	22,694	1	0.0
Baltimore-Columbia-Towson Metropolitan Statistical Area
Total Nonfarm		1,380.4	1,380.0	1,391.6	1,401.7	21.3	1.5
Mining, logging, and construction		75.2	76.5	77.2	77.6	2.4	3.2
Manufacturing		55.7	54.9	55.9	55.4	-0.3	-0.5
Trade, transportation, & utilities		241.2	245.9	243.0	244.1	2.9	1.2
Information		17.6	16.9	17.1	17.2	-0.4	-2.3
Financial activities		79.8	81.5	80.9	79.7	-0.1	-0.1
Professional & business services		226.4	229.1	229.0	232.2	5.8	2.6
Education & health services		271.9	276.0	281.2	281.8	9.9	3.6
Leisure & hospitality		132.8	127.0	129.2	132.9	0.1	0.1
Other services		50.7	50.7	49.8	50.1	-0.6	-1.2
Government		229.1	221.5	228.3	230.7	1.6	0.7
Baltimore City
Total Nonfarm		365.4	371.0	376.6	380.6	15.2	4.2
Mining, logging, and construction		11.0	11.4	11.5	11.6	0.6	5.5
Manufacturing		10.6	10.4	10.5	10.5	-0.1	-0.9
Trade, transportation, & utilities		41.8	43.0	42.8	43.3	1.5	3.6
Information		4.4	4.4	4.4	4.4	0.0	0.0
Financial activities		17.8	19.7	19.7	19.7	1.9	10.7
Professional & business services		47.2	51.5	49.9	50.6	3.4	7.2
Education & health services		118.6	122.1	125.4	126.2	7.6	6.4
Leisure & hospitality		28.9	26.6	27.8	29.2	0.3	1.0
Other services		12.2	11.9	11.9	11.9	-0.3	-2.5
Government		72.9	70.0	72.7	73.2	0.3	0.4
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 Return to Mid-Atlantic Information Office Homepage menu