BALTIMORE, MD—Maryland gained 38,400 jobs in 2024, experiencing a 1.4 percent employment growth rate, according to preliminary year-end estimates released by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The private sector accounted for 27,300 of the new jobs.

The state added 200 jobs in December, maintaining a labor force participation rate of 65.6 percent, significantly higher than the national average of 62.5 percent. Maryland’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.1 percent, a rate significantly lower than the national average of 4.1 percent.

Several sectors contributed to Maryland’s job growth in December. The public sector added 1,300 jobs, followed by retail trade (1,000 jobs), health care and social assistance (900 jobs), professional, scientific, and technical services (700 jobs), finance and insurance (600 jobs), and information (600 jobs).

However, some sectors experienced job losses in December. The largest estimated declines were in administrative and support and waste management and remediation (-2,600 jobs), other services (-1,100 jobs), transportation, warehousing, and utilities (-600 jobs), private educational services (-500 jobs), and construction (-400 jobs).

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

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