Unemployment Rate Continues To Drop In Howard County

HOWARD COUNTY, MD — In April 2020, Howard County reached a peak unemployment rate of 8.1 percent during the coronavirus pandemic. But officials note that rate has steadily decreased since then. The unemployment rate for October was 5.7 percent and in November was 4.9 percent. Howard County also has seen an overall decrease in weekly unemployment claims since spring. Prior to the pandemic and subsequent shutdown of businesses, Howard County recorded an unemployment rate of 2.7 percent, one of the lowest in Maryland.

• New consolidated headquarters of KBR consisting of 350 high paying tech jobs with an additional 48 new jobs in Maple Lawn.
• Savage-based prepared meals company, Freshly, has quickly grown, to a staff of 821 employees since opening in the fall of 2019 with 500 employees.
• TJ Maxx agreed to lease a 205,306-square-foot distribution facility in Jessup
• Cavalier Logistics expanded to a second location in Howard County with 87,000 square feet and 12 employees for additional cold room storage capacity.
• Cleary Packaging and its 25 employees relocated into 33,000 squar feet of space in Savage where they plan to continue to grow the business.
• Long Home Products relocated to its new Savage Mill headquarters with a $7.7 million capital investment in the 50,000-square-foot facility that provides a comfortable and productive environment for the growing company’s more than 150 employees.

“While the pandemic has impacted many of our small businesses and we have worked to lend support to them, we continue our work to foster business expansion and attract projects across several industry sectors which may provide job opportunities for our residents,” Larry Twele, CEO of the Howard County Economic Development Authority, said in a statement.