The Maryland Department of Commerce announced today that its various finance and tax incentive programs helped create and retain at least 16,892 direct jobs in Maryland during fiscal year 2021. More than 1,000 business recipients utilized the department’s programs over the year, investing nearly $357 million into projects throughout the state.
The figures come from the 2021 Consolidated Incentives Performance Report as required by the Maryland Jobs Development Act, which requires the department to report data on certain programs each year. Overall, nearly 40,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs are supported by Maryland Commerce’s programs, when totaling each of the report’s “total jobs” charts together.
“Our administration is proud that Maryland Commerce’s finance and tax credit programs have helped support thousands of jobs in our state,” said Governor Larry Hogan. “Growing our business community and providing quality jobs for the residents of Maryland remains our priority, and programs like these will allow the state to continue working towards that goal for years to come.”
When looking at the state’s key industry sectors, the manufacturing sector created and retained the most jobs in FY 2021 with nearly 12,000 reported, spurred by various programs. The professional, scientific, and technical services sector ranked second with 975 jobs, and the information sector ranked third with 701 jobs.
Two of the state’s most well known tax incentive programs – the Job Creation Tax Credit and More Jobs for Marylanders – supported 32 recipients who generated a combined total of 794 jobs. The Job Creation Tax Credit encourages companies to expand in or relocate to Maryland, providing an income tax credit per new job to a business that creates new full-time jobs in the state.
The More Jobs for Marylanders program incentivizes new and existing manufacturers to create new jobs in the state, and to non-manufacturers that locate or expand in Maryland Opportunity Zones. The More Jobs for Marylanders Act 3.0 (Senate Bill 391/House Bill 418) was recently introduced by Governor Larry Hogan to extend the successful program for an additional five years through 2027.
“With help from our department’s programs, Maryland businesses were able to add and retain thousands of new jobs across the state,” said Maryland Commerce Secretary Mike Gill. “This means putting people back to work and helping those who need it most. These jobs will help individuals provide for their families and put meals on the kitchen table, all while investing in their surrounding communities. We are very happy with these results.”
The state’s Partnership for Workforce Quality program, which provides training grants and support services, also played a significant role with the state’s workforce, supporting 905 jobs across Maryland. These grants are used to increase the skills of existing workers for new technologies and production processes, improve employee productivity, and increase employment stability within companies.
It is important to note that each of Maryland Commerce’s programs do not report the same data. Only 11 programs covered by this report capture data on jobs created or retained as a direct result of assistance received. Direct jobs for the other nine programs, as well as indirect and induced jobs for all 20 programs in this report, are estimated. Therefore, the total impact of Commerce’s programs is higher than the 16,892 direct jobs reported by the companies.
However, the impacts between programs should not be directly compared to each other, as each program is designed to achieve different outcomes at various timeframes and some impacts may or may not be estimated based on a variety of factors as described in the report.
To learn more about financial incentives and business resources offered by Maryland Commerce, visit commerce.maryland.gov.
