Maryland's jobless rate rose to a nearly 17-year high of 6.7 percent last month, reflecting continuing economic woes in a deepening recession, the Labor Department said Friday.
The state's unemployment rate was the worst since April 1992, when it hit 6.9 percent.
While Maryland has fared better than many states, its unemployment has steadily risen as turmoil in the housing, construction and financial markets has widened. The state's jobless rate, adjusted for seasonal changes, climbed to 6.2 percent in January, from 5.4 percent in December.
Economists expect Maryland's unemployment to keep creeping up, despite some encouraging economic signs this week, including more buyers returning to the housing market.
"They are pieces of not-so-bad news in a sea of really bad news," said Daraius Irani, director of applied economics for the RESI consulting arm of Towson University. "There is some small bits of good news out there. It doesn't make a trend. It's still early to tell."
Maryland was among 49 states and the District of Columbia that saw month-to-month jobless rate increases in February. Nebraska was the exception.
Michigan had the highest jobless rate at 12 percent last month, while Wyoming had the lowest at 3.9 percent. Maryland was among 21 states that had lower rates than the U.S. overall.
Nationally, the unemployment rate hit 8.1 percent last month, the highest in more than 25 years.
More than 200,000 Maryland residents were seeking work in February, preliminary government figures show. More than 2.7 million Marylanders were on employment payrolls in February.
During the 12 months through February, the state lost 48,000 jobs, not adjusted for seasonal changes, figures show.
Maryland lost 6,600 jobs last month across almost all sectors, including construction, manufacturing and services.
"Unfortunately, as people cut back on spending on retail activities, going out to eat and getting services done, those all trickle down to individuals who work in those fields," Irani said.
Maryland has been somewhat buffered by its proximity to Washington and faces strong prospects with incoming jobs from the military base realignment process known as BRAC.
But Irani said the retail, construction and financial markets "have been leading the charge downward due to the housing market."
