5.19.24 – WBAL
Despite the Port of Baltimore shutting down after the Key Bridge collapse, the state of Maryland added 7,800 jobs in April, according to a report from the Maryland Department of Labor.
The report was the first to collect data after the bridge collapse, which impacted hundreds of businesses and thousands of Port of Baltimore workers. The report found the transportation, warehousing and utilities sectors at the port had a decrease of roughly 1,000 jobs.
“Our goal has been to keep as many port workers as possible attached to their jobs so that as regular operations resume, businesses are ready to go,” Maryland Labor Secretary Portia Wu said. “Through targeted assistance, we have been able to keep thousands of port workers on payroll and provide thousands of additional impacted workers with temporary economic support during this time.”
Daraius Irani, chief economist for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University, told 11 News he was not surprised to hear additional jobs came in April. He said he feels this way because the port shutdown is only temporary, and other professions, he says, are hiring.
“We’re a very broad-based economy, I like to say Maryland is ‘eds, beds, meds, feds and the port,'” said Irani. “It is a substantial sector of the economy, but out of the five, four are running very well.”
The report states the number of jobs increase is the largest increase since January 2023.
“(The jobs range) from accountants, in the government sector, to additional tellers at (the Motor Vehicle Administration), those type of things, professional and scientific services, everything from software developers to engineers, lawyers,” said Irani.