Maryland’s unemployment rate held steady at 7.7 percent in March after the state added nearly 35,800 jobs in Maryland, the largest increase among all U.S. states.

Virginia added 24,500 jobs, second most in the nation, and posted a jobless rate of 7.4 percent, up from 7.2 percent. It stood at 6.4 percent a year ago in March.

D.C.’s unemployment rate dropped from 11.9 percent to 11.6 percent. A year ago, the rate was 9.1 percent. D.C. added 7,900 jobs over the month. Out of that figure, about 1,800 construction jobs were injected.

“Today’s announcement is good news for families and businesses in Maryland,” Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a statement. “While we still have a way to go, these jobs numbers show that our economy is beginning to turn in a positive direction.

The number of employed Maryland residents rose to more than 2.5 million last month, according to figures released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Virginia’s work force rose to 3.6 million, while the number of workers in D.C. stood at 713,000.

Part of the gain in Maryland might not actually be new jobs, economists caution. They think some positions fell off the radar in February because the blizzards hit around the time that the U.S. Department of Labor conducted its survey. Workers stuck at home would temporarily disappear from the tally if they went without wages for an entire pay period.

For the third consecutive month, the national unemployment rate remained at 9.7 percent, up from 8.6 percent in March 2009.

During March, 24 states recorded unemployment rate increases from February. Seventeen states and D.C. reported rate decreases and nine had no change.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 9:57 pm and is filed under Virginia, Jobs, Maryland. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.