August 20th, 2016 by WCBC Radio

Maryland's unemployment rate remained steady in July as the state gained nearly 3,000 jobs, driven by strong growth in professional and business services, the U.S. Labor Department said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the state's jobless rate Friday at 4.3 percent, the same as in June and lower than the national rate of 4.9 percent.

July was the seventh month this year in which Maryland posted month-over-month job gains — though the Labor Department revised a June preliminary estimate from a gain of 9,800 jobs to 6,900.

Maryland's jobless rate has fallen significantly from July 2015, when it was 5.1 percent, to hold steady at a "pretty low" rate, said Ann Battle Macheras, an economist and vice president of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.