Baltimore Sun

Maryland’s unemployment rate spiked to a 15-year high in December as the economy continued to falter, causing the state to lose jobs during a 12-month period for the first time since 2003.

The jobless rate jumped to 5.8 percent last month, according to preliminary statistics released today by the U.S. Labor Department. Maryland ended the year with 15,000 fewer jobs than in December 2007, the largest year-over-year loss since September 1992 and the first in five years, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Maryland had managed to add jobs each month for most of the year, until September, when credit and financial markets collapsed and employers began trimming staffs with more urgency. The state’s jobless rate has been rising steadily since May after remaining below 4 percent for more than two years.

Unemployment in Maryland last reached 5.8 percent in October 1993, on a seasonally adjusted basis, the bureau reported. Maryland lost 9,800 jobs last month, compared with November’s employment rolls. About 2.6 million people were employed in Maryland last month.