Baltimore Construction Jobs Drop 12.5 Percent Over Year

As the majority of industries added workers over the month and year, Baltimore construction jobs were among the hardest hit.

During May, the Baltimore-Towson area's unemployment rate increased from 7.2 percent to 7.4 percent, following a decrease from 8 percent during April. Despite the increase, the area's rate was still lower than the national average at the time of 9.7 percent.

The Baltimore area had a total non-farm employment of 1,282,300 workers during May, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 1,265,600 workers during April and only a .1 percent decrease from last year.

Every industry but two added jobs on a monthly basis during May. The manufacturing industry decreased by 100 jobs to 60,600 workers, while the education and health services industry declined by 300 jobs to 240,800 workers.

The leisure and hospitality saw the biggest increase, growing by 6,300 jobs between April and May, to 124,700 workers. That was followed by the government industry, which rose by 4,400 jobs, to 233,300 employees.

Other industries that saw employment gains over the month include:

• Professional and business services by 3,000 jobs
• Other services by 1,500 jobs
• Trade, transportation and utilities by 1,300 jobs
• Financial activities by 300 jobs
• Mining, logging and construction by 200 jobs
• Information by 100 jobs

Five industries managed to see a yearly increase in employment during May. The leisure and hospitality industry grew the most, increasing by 5.1 percent from last year. The education and health services industry saw the second-largest yearly increase, growing by 2.4 percent.

The professional and business services increased by 2.2 percent over the year to 186,900 workers, while the government industry increased by 1.1 percent, and the trade, transportation and utilities industry grew by .1 percent between May 2009 and May 2010.

On the other end of the scale, the mining, logging and construction industry took the biggest hit when compared to last year. The industry lost 12.5 percent of its workforce during the 12-month month period and now employs 63,000 people.

Other industries that experienced an over-the-year decrease in employment include: financial activities by 7.7 percent; manufacturing by 4.4 percent; other services by 2.7 percent; and information by 2.3 percent.