Economic Outlook for Allegany County, Maryland

Maryland's unemployment rate has risen dramatically over the past few months. With a 15 year high due to an increase of 5.8 percent, the number of people out of jobs is the worst it has been since 1993. Nationally, the unemployment rate has risen from 6.8 percent to 7.2 percent, the highest in 23 years. In the western part of the state, the unemployment rate in Allegany County is now approximately 6.5 percent with almost 3500 out of jobs in a workforce of approximately 48,000 as of December 2008 and that have gone up as well just over the past two months. Even though Maryland was able to generate new jobs, the state has still lost over 10,000 jobs overall in the past month because of the economy alone.

As of January 19, 2009, there is legislation pending to extend unemployment insurance to not just 158,000 full time workers who have lost their jobs, but also to approximately 330,000 part-time workers who also have no work due to the lose of their jobs. Even so, there are those who oppose any benefits being given to part-time workers saying small businesses cannot afford to pay the extra tax. Advocates are saying that many jobs have gone to a reduced workweek, meaning that even full time employees have joined the ranks of part-time workers because they are being forced to work 35 hours a week or less.

The unemployment rate in Allegany County continues to rise as companies leave the area and businesses have to close. Over the past several years, the economic outlook for western Maryland has been on the decrease. Considered an economically depressed area, there have been efforts to promote tourism as an alternative business to replace the companies that are now gone; however, that may be a futile movement as the economy across the country continues into a recession.

To top it off, of the five gambling licenses available, the hope of having 15,000 slot machines in Maryland failed when only 7,300 have been asked for. Rocky Gap State Park, which had also built a large hotel and other amenities to offer tourists, was thought to generate several hundred thousand dollars for the area. Of the 1,500 machines first considered, they only want 750 at this time. Not even the introduction of gambling through slot machines may help any recovery when people do not have the money to spend.

The general economic slowdown has caused jobs to disappear in construction, manufacturing, professional services, financial services, logging and sawmills, tourism, and leisure and hospitality. The only real jobs remaining are in the services area and include fast food, small businesses, hospitals, and facilities belonging to doctors and mental health facilities. There is nothing in the near future that indicates that employment and job growth will get better or that enough jobs will be created. In fact, with the collapse of so many banking and credit institutions and their own loss of jobs, it will probably continue to get worse. There is little faith among many that an economic recovery program will help in this area as there are so few companies left to benefit from it.

Sources:

Extending Unemployment Insurance to Maryland's 330,000 Part-time Workers, By Craig Simpson, January 19, 2009

Unemployment Rates by County in Maryland, November 2008

Maryland's 5.8% unemployment rate highest since 1993, by Ryan Sharrow, January 27, 2009