Maryland Economy

AS A STATE, economically speaking, Maryland has come a long way since the recession of 1991.Its companies -- particularly its finance and manufacturing companies -- are leaner and better-focused than they were early in the decade, though it took painful layoffs and consolidations to get them there.Maryland added such crucial "New Economy" industries as telecommunications and biotechnology. Both are growing nicely.And it's even made some progress shedding its reputation as a state that's hostile to business.

TECHNOLOGY companies will play a major role in Maryland's future. That's why state officials have hired the top economic development official at the U.S. Department of Commerce to attract more technology companies.Phillip A. Singerman left his post as an assistant secretary at Commerce to begin what amounts to a start-up venture for Maryland. He will be the first president of the Maryland Science, Engineering and Technology Development Corp., known as TEDCO.The quasi-public group's purpose is to make Maryland a mecca for high-tech firms.

Don't expect the Maryland economy to provide a stock market-type roller-coaster ride.While the Dow Jones industrial average soars and plunges by hundreds of points, the state's economy continues its steady -- though flattening -- climb.With a solid second quarter behind it, the Maryland economy will cool for the rest of the year but not suffer a severe downturn from foreign currency crises in Asia and Russia, economists said."I think we'll probably end up slowing down a little bit just like the national economy," said Patrick Bradley, senior vice president of Mercantile-Safe Deposit & Trust Co."

Squeezed by reduced state aid and pressure to control tuition, the University System of Maryland announced yesterday a campaign to raise $700 million in the next five years, the largest fund drive in the system's nine-year history.The ambitious goal puts Maryland's system among the major fund-raisers in American public higher education and reflects a growing trend toward what some call the privatization of public universities.At a time when taxpayers are scrutinizing state spending and parents are fretting over college costs, the universities' quest might seem perplexing.

Maryland's economy continued on a path of moderate growth in the second quarter, with low unemployment, solid job growth and nary a sign of inflation.Growth across sectors such as construction, communications and financial services helped the state wrap up its fiscal year with an 8 percent increase in income tax revenue."Right now, we're seeing a continuance of the Maryland economy being in the best shape it's been since the 1990 recession," said Mike Funk, an economist who follows the state for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University.

A graph in last Sunday's Business section gave an incorrect figure for freight traffic at BWI Airport for the first quarter of 1997. The correct number is 77,316 pounds of freight.The Sun regrets the errors.All decade, Maryland and the Northeast have lagged near the end of the economic train. But the national economy has hitched up another locomotive this year, jammed down the throttle and wrenched acceleration even from the caboose."Clearly, right now, the Maryland economy is as strong as it's been this decade," said Mike Funk, an economist who follows the state for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson State University.

In another sign that Maryland has hitched itself more securely to the country's economic train, the state's unemployment rate slipped to 4.4 percent in August, its lowest seasonally adjusted point in seven years.The proportion of Marylanders without jobs in August fell from 4.7 percent in July and from 4.8 percent in August 1996, according to the U.S. Labor Department. The state's highest unemployment rate in the last decade was 6.8 percent, logged )) for five straight months in 1992."Job growth has been very strong in Maryland over the last eight quarters," said Mike Funk, an economist who follows the state for the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University.

SPRING, A TIME of renewal, finds Parris Glendening enjoying the warmth and sunshine. After three months of high tension during the General Assembly session, Maryland's governor has hit the road to boost his spirits and promote his accomplishments.Much like predecessor William Donald Schaefer, the governor is at his best in the field. There he can sell his programs and impress citizens with the budget loot he is directing into their counties.Forgotten are the frustrations and disappointments of the legislative session, of the lost battles and political animus.

A long-delayed, $54 million hotel, conference center and golf course resort -- seen as a linchpin in efforts to revive Western Maryland's ailing economy -- is expected to receive final state approval today.Board of Public Works approval of the project, to be built at Rocky Gap State Park near Cumberland, comes after 13 years of detours and delays spanning the administrations of three governors.To state leaders, particularly House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., an Allegany County Democrat, Rocky Gap represents a key piece of the economically depressed region's effort to shift from a manufacturing economy to one based largely on tourism.

They had prepared for this toast countless times in the 15 years since conceiving a luxury resort and golf course in the mountains of Western Maryland.Yesterday, state and Allegany County leaders could raise their glasses, at last, to what they promised will become Maryland's answer to Greenbrier, the famous resort in West Virginia.The tortuous saga ended yesterday morning when the state Board of Public Works approved the Rocky Gap Lodge & Golf Resort, a $54 million project expected to become a major tourist attraction and boon to the ailing Western Maryland economy.

When Yash Gupta was dean of the business school at the University of Southern California, "I would get five phone calls a day from different businesses," he says. Entrepreneurs were looking for advice or resources. Start-ups sought interns. Investors wanted ideas. Business leaders wanted to teach. Then he moved to Baltimore. "Not as much" evidence of passionate innovation or business-academic symbiosis here, he says. "We could do better." Gupta, the dean of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, is probably being diplomatic.

There is an assumption that fixing roads and repairing buildings are the fastest ways to improve the Maryland economy. But we should test our assumptions and ask tough questions. Who will get this money? How many jobs will be created, and who will they go to? Billions of dollars funneled to a few companies and a few thousand workers will only slowly trickle its way into the economy as a whole. And funds for capital projects will not help state and local governments or nonprofit organizations fill gaping holes in their operating budgets.

Slots can be jackpot for state's retailers James Karmel's column "A jackpot for Maryland?" (Commentary, Aug. 24) brought attention to the often-overlooked economic benefits of slot machines. Those benefits are the reason that the Maryland Retailers Association has supported slots legislation for five years and now strongly backs Question 2, the referendum on a constitutional amendment that would authorize 15,000 slot machines at five locations in Maryland. Approving Question 2 would generate tens of millions in non-tax revenue for communities and create thousands of good-paying jobs with significant new disposable income.

Somebody ought to point out - OK, I'll do it, but just this once - that, based on what a certain Mr. Scott said at a news conference in Bentonville, Ark., the other day, it's probably safe to conclude that there was more ha-ha than brou in the brouhaha over Maryland's Wal-Mart bill. The state's economy might not come to a grinding halt, after all, and the Lord hath spared us a plague upon the land. Princess Anne just might get those $12-an-hour jobs. Ha! You remember the Wal-Mart bill.

Marylanders who spend most of their time in Baltimore, or points east and west of the city, likely have a distorted view of Prince George's County. They probably know only what they see on the way to Washington: a crisscross of highways, suburban sprawl, gritty industrial parks, some once-graceful neighborhoods now down at the heels. Those who occasionally head farther south, though, are rewarded with a journey back to a simpler world. A place where, long ago, county fathers were foresighted enough to set aside something precious for the future.

CAMBRIDGE -- Andrew Lazur had no trouble finding Nemo. Helping the lovable little clown- fish grow in captivity was a bit harder. Lazur, an associate professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, has been perfecting techniques for growing Amphiprion ocellaris - Nemo's scientific name - more easily in a hatchery, reducing the need to raid fragile coral reefs to stock aquariums with the fish, which is prized for its coloring and...

Six and a half years ago, the African-Americans in Maryland who thought the economy was improving outnumbered by 5 to 1 those who said the economy was worsening. Today, the numbers are almost reversed, with blacks who are pessimistic outnumbering optimistic ones more than 3 to 1. Experts say the shift in The Sun Poll of Maryland voters might have relatively little to do with the state's economic health - possibly relating more to state and national politics and whether African-Americans who tend to vote Democratic have confidence in a Republican-dominated government.

Maryland's unemployment rate edged up in August to 4.3 percent, its highest level since December, according to figures released yesterday by the U.S. Labor Department. The report, which is preliminary, also showed that the state's civilian labor force declined by 2,354 workers to 2.95 million in August from the prior month, while the number of people employed slipped by 7,100 to 2.82 million over the same period. While Maryland's unemployment rate has been ticking up since June, when it was at 3.9 percent, and 4.1 percent in July, it remains more than a full percentage point below the national average and is among the lowest in the country, leading area economists to point to the state's economic vigor.

TO PERFORM research on the Maryland economy, I had to order the spinach salad with salmon, pine nuts, red onions and bleu cheese at Copra, the recently opened, Frank Lloyd Wrightish restaurant on Charles Street. Really. Restaurants are economic electrocardiograms. When the economy thrives, they go gangbusters. When the business weather cools, they're often the first to show it. And if places such as Copra and its competitors are any indication, Maryland restaurants and the Maryland economy are pointed at their best year in a long time.

Maryland's unemployment rate fell slightly, to 4 percent in February from a revised 4.2 percent rate in January, as the state's economy continued to grow steadily. The number of unemployed people in the state fell by 8,277 to 116,554 in February, according to seasonally adjusted figures released yesterday by the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. Economists attributed the addition of 10,600 jobs to federal government hiring and the growth in technology and life sciences sectors.