The national news on the economy isn’t good this morning – the economy shrank during the first three months of the year – but the local news is more promising: The government reported this week that Maryland employers created more jobs than any month since April 2010 -- 16,400 jobs. Still, in the previous month the state lost almost half that many jobs – 7,200 – perhaps reflecting the same forces that shrank the national economy early in the year.
Over the past 12 months, Maryland’s trend is up – almost 40,000 jobs created, or 1 ½ percent.
So, what kind of track is the state’s economy on and what types of jobs are being created? Where are they, and can they support families? We’ve asked two economists to talk to us about it.
With me in the studio is Andy Bauer, senior regional economist for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Baltimore branch. And interrupting his vacation to speak to us from New Orleans is Darius Irani, chief economist of RESI, the Regional Economic Studies Institute at Towson University.
