Sources & References
Metro Job Market Pulse · Baltimore-Towson, MD MSA · October 2026
Every advertised-pay, job-posting and industry figure in this briefing comes from WageScape's own database of active job postings. The sources below back the external facts cited in the written analysis.
Sources cited in this report
Key Indicators
Maryland lost 8,200 jobs in August 2026, reversing July gain
Maryland Department of Labor — State nonfarm payroll employment data
National wage growth at 3.0% vs 3.4% inflation
Bureau of Labor Statistics — National average hourly earnings and CPI data, September 2026
This Month's Takeaways
Professional/scientific/technical services down 11,500 jobs statewide since Jan 2025
Maryland Department of Labor — Industry-level employment data on federal contractor-linked sector
Local Economic Conditions
Baltimore metro unemployment rate near 3.9% as of most recent data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — Local Area Unemployment Statistics, Baltimore-Columbia-Towson MSA
Open Threads in the Data
Maryland labor force participation fell to 63.7%, a 10-year low
Bureau of Labor Statistics / USA Facts — State labor force participation rate series
Looking Ahead
Minimum wage raised to $18/hour for MAA contract workers at BWI
Office of Governor Wes Moore — September 7, 2026 state policy announcement
How the numbers are calculated
- Advertised pay is the median of the pay ranges employers publish in active job postings in this metro. It is not survey or payroll data.
- Percent changes compare the latest six full months with the six months before that, for the same metro and sector.
- Sectors group postings by the employer's industry (NAICS) classification into ten sectors. Where a metro has too few postings in a sector, the state figure is used instead.
- Role pay trends use the same comparison windows. "Stable" means a change of less than 3%; "moderate" 3–10%; "significant" more than 10%.
Official data for comparison