September 15th, 2017 by WCBC Radio

Maryland labor officials say Maryland outpaced nationwide employment growth by a factor of five in August. WBAL reports that according to preliminary data, the state tacked on 14,200 jobs in August. The state unemployment rate dropped to 3.9 percent, below the 4.4 percent national average. While the national rate barely budged from July, the last time Maryland's unemployment was this low was in May 2008, before the recession.

"From day one, a top priority of our administration has been growing our private sector and creating more jobs and we have made incredible progress," Gov. Larry Hogan said in a statement. "In just two and a half years, Maryland has added more than 10 times more private sector jobs than were added in the previous 8 years, and the unemployment rate is at the lowest it has been in nearly a decade."

Maryland has added 127,600 since the start of Hogan's first term, officials say. Of the 14,200 jobs added last month, 9,700 were in the private sector. Compared to the previous August, private sector jobs were up by 57,900, or 2.6 percent.

Maryland trailed only Georgia for the largest increase in non-farm payroll employment.

The national Bureau of Labor Statistics data collection was completed before Hurricane Harvey struck the Texas and Louisiana gulf coast.