August loss revised higher, and total employment is now 0.5% below a year ago, even as the jobless rate drops to 3.9%
By Michael Phillips | MDBayNews
Maryland had an estimated 8,800 fewer payroll jobs in September than in August, and the federal government now says August was worse than first reported. Figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics show a revised loss of 11,300 jobs in August, for a combined decline of 20,100 jobs over two months.
Total nonfarm payroll employment stood at 2,794,300 in September, which is 0.5 percent below September of last year. The September figure is preliminary. The two-month decline equals about 0.7 percent of July’s payroll total, and September’s count is the lowest of the six months in the latest BLS table, which begins in April.
The unemployment rate moved the other way. The Maryland Department of Labor reported Tuesday that the rate fell to 3.9 percent, the lowest since April 2025, down two-tenths of a point from August. The national rate is 4.2 percent.
Maryland lost an estimated 20,100 payroll jobs in two months, even as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent.
Where the jobs went
By BLS supersector, the biggest September losses were:
- Leisure and hospitality: down 3,700 jobs
- Education and health services: down 3,300 jobs
- Professional and business services: down 1,400 jobs
The state’s own release breaks those down further. Health care and social assistance lost 2,400 jobs and private educational services lost 900, which together account for the education and health decline. Accommodation and food services lost 2,000 and arts, entertainment and recreation lost 1,700, matching the leisure and hospitality drop.
The weakness was not limited to those three. Financial activities lost 700 jobs, information lost 400, and construction lost 100. Manufacturing added 600 jobs and government added 200. The private sector carried the losses. The Maryland Department of Labor’s employment table puts total private payrolls at 2,266,900 in September, down 9,000 from August and down 20,300 from July. Government payrolls were up 200 over the same two months, though they remain 1.5 percent below September of last year. The BLS government category combines federal, state, and local jobs, so it does not show how much of that yearly decline is federal.
The private sector carried the losses.
A monthly drop does not always mean a sector is shrinking over the year. Professional and business services, despite losing 1,400 jobs in September, is still 0.7 percent above a year earlier. Education and health services is 1.2 percent higher over the year despite its 3,300-job September loss.
Why the rate fell anyway
The unemployment rate comes from a separate household survey, which asks residents rather than employers. That survey counted about 7,000 more employed Marylanders in September than in August, about 5,200 fewer unemployed, and a civilian labor force that grew by about 1,900. The state’s labor force participation rate was 63.7 percent, compared with 61.8 percent nationwide.
So the two surveys disagree on the direction of the labor market this month.
Claims for unemployment insurance also fell. The Department of Labor said claims from Maryland residents dropped from August to September and were lower than in September of 2024 and 2025.
So the two surveys disagree on the direction of the labor market this month. The Maryland Department of Labor’s release says BLS’s employer-based job estimates for Maryland and other states have been increasingly volatile in recent months. The department said it is likely those estimates reflect challenges in data collection rather than swings in actual employment, and its release points to the drop in unemployment claims. That is the department’s inference, not a finding BLS has published. Both sets of numbers are preliminary and subject to revision, as August just was.
That is the department’s inference, not a finding BLS has published.
The longer view
The over-the-year change in payroll jobs has been negative in every month BLS lists from April through September, though the decline narrowed over the summer before widening again.
- April: down 1.1 percent
- May: down 1.0 percent
- June: down 0.7 percent
- July: down 0.1 percent
- August: down 0.3 percent
- September: down 0.5 percent
The discrepancy is a reason to watch revisions rather than assume either measure tells the whole story.
What to Watch
- October’s report. A third consecutive monthly decline would strengthen the case for sustained payroll weakness. A rebound, especially alongside upward revisions to August or September, would complicate that picture.
- Further revisions. August moved from a preliminary loss of 8,200 jobs to 11,300. September’s figure could move too.
- The gap between the surveys. Employer payroll estimates fell while the household survey showed more employed residents, fewer unemployed residents and a slightly larger labor force. The discrepancy is a reason to watch revisions rather than assume either measure tells the whole story.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “Economy at a Glance: Maryland,” data extracted October 20, 2026 (bls.gov/eag/eag.md.htm), for payroll totals, revisions, supersector and 12-month changes, and household-survey counts; Maryland Department of Labor, “Maryland Labor Market Release, September 2026,” published October 20, 2026 (dllr.state.md.us/whatsnews/mlrsept2026.shtml), for the unemployment rate, participation rates, detailed industry changes and claims comparisons. The August preliminary figure of 8,200 comes from the BLS Maryland page as extracted October 2, 2026. Private and government payroll levels come from the Maryland Department of Labor’s Current Employment Statistics table (labor.maryland.gov/lmi/ces), accessed October 20, 2026. The 20,100 two-month total, the monthly private-sector and government changes, and the household changes are calculations from those tables.
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