Regional Economy Filled With Promise In ‘17 

- Presented by Anirban Basu, Sage Policy Group

Fueled by healthcare, cyber-security, government contracting, and logistics, the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metropolitan statistical area continues to be at the vanguard of Maryland’s economic growth. Between November 2015 and November 2016, the region added 23,600 jobs, or roughly three-fourths of all the jobs added in Maryland. That translated into 1.7% job growth, better than the statewide (1.1%) and national (1.6%) averages.

While there is a presumption that the jobs of today are not nearly as good as the ones of the past in terms of compensation, recent data tells a more nuanced story. Professional and business services, which encompasses a mix of jobs ranging from very high wage to entry level, accounted for 46% of the metropolitan area’s job growth during the most recent twelve-month period for which data exist. Education and health services, which also embodies a mix of high-, medium-, and low-wage positions, chipped in another 35% of the region’s net new job creation.

Over the past year, the regional unemployment rate has dipped from 5% to 4.2%, one of the lower rates of unemployment among the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas. The decline in regional unemployment has occurred despite the addition of 30,000 people to the area’s labor force. The Washington metropolitan area has added jobs even more quickly and has a lower regional unemployment rate; circumstances that support additional employment opportunities for residents of the Baltimore area.

The year ahead should be another year of progress. Realtors are expecting a banner spring housing market as growing urgency to take advantage of still low mortgage rates meets growing job security and rising wages. Apartment leasing should also be brisk. The region can also point to a number of signature developments that create the capacity to accommodate large-scale investment. These include the redevelopment of downtown Columbia, major investments in a number of Baltimore County submarkets including Towson and Tradepoint Atlantic, as well as Port Covington and Harbor Point in Baltimore City. Potential federal tax cuts and expected increases in defense spending could also position the region for faster economic growth during the months ahead.