Published: July 11, 2009 10:44 pm      

Industrial employment declines in Maryland

State loses nearly 10,000 jobs from May 2008 to May 2009

CUMBERLAND — Industrial employment in the Maryland/District of Columbia area fell 4.8 percent over the past 12 months, according to the 2010 Maryland/DC Manufacturers Directory, an industrial directory published annually by Manufacturers’ News Inc. of Evanston, Ill.

PR NewsWire reports that the directory notes that Maryland lost 9,826 industrial jobs and 231 manufacturers between May 2008 and May 2009, the sharpest decline ever for the state.

Maryland and the DC metro area are home to 5,214 manufacturers employing 196,336 workers, according to MNI.

In earlier reports by MNI, Maryland suffered a 1.7 percent loss in manufacturing employment between 2006 and 2007, and a minimal loss of a half percent over the 2007-2008 period.

“As with the entire nation, the recession continues to affect Maryland’s industrial sector. However, Maryland’s educated work force and stronghold in the biotech industries should help lay the groundwork for recovery,” said Tom Dubin, president of the MNI publishing company, which has been surveying industry since 1912.

Western Maryland represents 21,767 of the state’s jobs, down 5.2 percent, while employment in Eastern Maryland declined 7 percent, with 18,388 of the state’s workers.

According to the manufacturers directory, printing and publishing is the state’s largest industrial sector, accounting for 40,415, or 21 percent, of the state’s jobs. Electronics manufacturing accounts for another 23,314 industrial jobs. Third-ranked industrial machinery and equipment manufacturing employs 19,219 workers.

Losses were reported across most sectors and included rubber and plastics, down 11.3 percent; paper products, 10.4; transportation equipment, 10; lumber/wood, 10; textiles/ap-parel, 7; chemical products, 5.6; stone/clay/glass, 3.6; and primary metals, 2.8.

Employment remained stea-dy in the furniture/fixtures and fabricated metal sectors, according to MNI.

Hagerstown saw industrial employment decline 4.5 percent over the year and currently accounts for 6,213 jobs, while Frederick accounts for 6,031 jobs, with no change over the past 12 months.