Maryland added 11,700 jobs in July, and the state’s unemployment rate ticked down to 4.2%, according to new federal estimates released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics — a report that stands out against a national jobs picture that actually shrank that month.
The state’s private sector drove the gains, adding 10,900 jobs, according to the Maryland Department of Labor. BLS also revised its earlier June estimate upward, from an initial 900-job gain to 1,200. Through the first seven months of 2026, Maryland has added an estimated 29,800 nonfarm jobs, a 1.1% growth rate that outpaces the national growth rate of 0.3% over the same stretch.
The contrast with the national numbers is notable: BLS’s national jobs report for July showed nonfarm payroll employment actually fell by 23,000 positions nationwide, even as the national unemployment rate held at 4.1%, essentially flat with Maryland’s 4.2%. Maryland’s labor force participation rate dipped slightly to 63.8%, but remained well above the national rate of 61.4%.
Health Care and Social Assistance led July’s gains, adding 4,800 jobs, followed by Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (3,000), Accommodation and Food Services (1,400), Administrative and Support and Waste Management and Remediation (900), and Manufacturing and Government, which each added 800. Five sectors lost jobs in July: Retail Trade fell by 1,200, the steepest decline, followed by Information and Other Services, both down 300, and Construction and Management of Companies and Enterprises, both down 200.
The report frames July’s growth as part of a broader recovery from a rough stretch of federal job losses. Maryland shed roughly 15,100 federal jobs between January and August of last year, driven by federal workforce reductions, and the state’s unemployment rate climbed as high as 3.6% during that period. July’s growth suggests that trend has reversed, though the composition of this year’s gains looks different — July’s job growth was led by private health care and professional services rather than government hiring, which contributed only a modest 800 jobs statewide.
