Annapolis, MD—Maryland workers continue to fall behind the region and the nation on wages and job opportunities, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The bureau’s 2018 employment and wage data found that Maryland lost 5,500 jobs last month, including 1,500 private sector jobs. Maryland’s job growth in the last year is dead last in the region, with Virginia creating jobs more than 5 times faster, and the nation creating jobs 8 times as fast.
The numbers also show that Governor Larry Hogan’s policies continue to shortchange Maryland workers, who have taken home less than $1,000 in wage growth when adjusted for inflation during Hogan’s Administration. Meantime workers nationwide have taken home more than $5,500 in increased wage growth, Virginia workers have taken home an additional $8,000, and workers in Delaware have taken home an additional $15,000 in wage growth in the same time frame.
“Maryland workers are paying the price for Larry Hogan’s failed policies,” said Kathleen Matthews, Chair of the Maryland Democratic Party. “Despite Governor Hogan’s promises to put more money in workers’ pockets, working families in Maryland are missing out on the longest economic boom in American history. Maryland’s voters are left wondering why our neighbors keep lapping us. The numbers don’t lie.”
The jobs report comes less than two weeks after CNBC’s 2018 ranking of states with he best business climate revealed that Maryland dropped 6 spots since last year, and months after a May report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve earlier this year named Maryland as the only state in the country with a negative economic outlook.
