Unemployment rates in all three Southern Maryland counties were lower in August than a year earlier, even as Maryland’s employers cut 8,200 jobs during the month, according to state and federal labor figures.
Calvert County had the region’s lowest jobless rate at 3.5% in August, down 0.6 percentage points from August 2025. St. Mary’s County stood at 3.7%, down from 3.9% in July and 4.1% a year ago. Charles County’s rate was 4.6%, 0.4 points below August 2025, the highest of the three but still lower than a year earlier. Those county rates are not seasonally adjusted, so they can swing from month to month and are not directly comparable with the seasonally adjusted statewide rate.
Statewide, the picture was more mixed. The Maryland Department of Labor said in its August 2026 Maryland Labor Report, dated Sept. 18 and based on Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates, that employment fell by 8,200 jobs in August after rising by 10,200 in July. The July gain was revised down from the 11,700 jobs first reported in the department’s previous report. The department noted that survey estimates “can be volatile from month to month,” and it urged a wider view: taken together, July and August added about 2,000 jobs, growth of 0.1%, the same pace as the nation.
Over the first eight months of 2026, Maryland has added 20,100 jobs, a 0.7% increase compared with 0.4% nationally. That is a slower pace than the department reported a month earlier, when the state stood at 29,800 jobs through July, a 1.1% gain, because August’s decline and the July revision pulled the total down.
The statewide unemployment rate edged down to 4.1%, matching the national average, from 4.2% in July. The labor force participation rate also slipped, to 63.7% from 63.8%, though it remains above the national rate of 61.6%.
The sector figures, which combine July and August, show where the movement came from. Accommodation and food services added the most jobs, 4,000, followed by professional, scientific and technical services at 2,800 and arts, entertainment and recreation at 1,500. Administrative and support services gained 900 jobs and government 600. Construction lost the most, 2,900 jobs, followed by private educational services at 1,400. Health care and social assistance and retail trade each lost 800 jobs, and transportation, warehousing and utilities and “other services” each lost 700.
For Southern Maryland, the mix matters. Restaurant, lodging and professional-services hiring tracks the hospitality sector that serves the Patuxent River and Indian Head corridors and the region’s tourism season, while the construction and education declines touch contractors and private schools across the three counties. The state report does not break out job changes by county, however, so it does not say how much of the sector movement happened locally.
County-level data for the full region will be updated again soon. According to the state’s release schedule, September statewide numbers are due Oct. 20, and the county-level figures follow on Oct. 28. Those releases will show whether the August dip in local unemployment rates holds as the summer season ends.
The Maryland Department of Labor lists its media contact as Dinah Winnick at 100 S. Charles St., Tower I, Baltimore. Readers can find the full data on the state’s labor market information site and the Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
