Baltimore Unemployment Continues To Decline, Despite Continued Sequestration
As the country continues to deal with the sequestration cuts coming from Washington D.C., Baltimore has flourished in the face of continuing layoffs of government workers. According to the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics, the Baltimore metropolitan area experienced a .4 percent decline in unemployment between July 2012 and July 2013, dropping from 7.9 percent in July 2012 to 7.5 percent in July 2013.
In Baltimore County alone, the unemployment rate dropped a little more, from 7.7 percent to 7.4 percent over the same period. Baltimore city's unemployment rate dropped, but not as much as the metro or county, from 11.1 percent to 10.8 percent during the same period.
The Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation (DLLR) translates this into a Baltimore county labor force of 456,052, where 422,681 are employed and 33,371 are not. Overseeing a smaller labor force of 280,993, Baltimore City has 252,527 employed workers and 28,466 unemployed.
Based on preliminary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, total non-farm wage and salary employment in Baltimore is increasing; up 1.9 percent from last year. At the top of the list, mining, logging and construction jobs experienced a 9.3 percent climb in employment, followed by a 4.3 percent increase in the professional and business services sector.
Both the manufacturing industry and government sectors in Baltimore experienced the greatest overall decrease in employment with 5.0 percent and 3.0 percent respectively during the same one-year period.
On September 12, 2013, the Maryland DLLR's Division of Unemployment Insurance announced that the sequestration, otherwise known as The Budget Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112-25), will be extended until November 2, 2013.
Currently, sequestrated workers are eligible to receive unemployment compensation to help recover lost wages. Under this plan, emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) benefits for sequestrated workers will continue to be cut by 22.5 percent until further notice.
Keisha Oduor is a professional writer and entrepreneur who resides in Baltimore, Maryland. She has a degree in Communications and French from New York University with work experience in publishing, nonprofits, healthcare administration and program management. Her work can be found on Examiner.com.
