As salaries continue to grow nationally, Greater Baltimore sees a decline

After months of soaring salary offers, wage growth started to slow nationally at the end of 2022 — and in Baltimore, it completely stopped. The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metro area saw average private-sector earnings drop by 2.9% year over year in December, from $1,140.36 to $1,107.22, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Nationally, private-sector earnings rose by an average 2.9% in metro areas between December 2021 and December 2022. That’s down significantly from the strong salary surges that were taking place in spring and summer 2022, causing significant headaches for employers and driving up inflation.  The pace of year-over-year growth has slowed even since November when the average metro posted a 3.4% increase in private-sector wages.