Business

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.

The COVID-19 pandemic is no longer the top office concern, according to a recent survey of executives and HR professionals by the Alexandria, Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management. “What was clearly the top priority from 2020 all the way down to 2022 has now taken a step back and is now the fourth most-common priority,” said Alex Alonso, chief knowledge officer at the Society for Human Resource Management. “They are talking about how they go about managing it, as opposed to something that is taking lives or having to focus on vaccine mandates.” What has emerged as a top priority for employers this year, is the mental health of their employees.

Amazon Smile, the charitable platform that paid out a half-of-one-percent donation on top of shoppers’ Amazon purchases to the charity of their choice, will be ceasing operation on Feb. 20, and some Baltimore beneficiaries are not happy. Amazon said in a press release that, with now over one million charities listed on its recipient list, the corporation’s ability to have an impact was “being spread too thin.” In the almost 10 years since its start in 2013, Amazon Smile states it has raised $400 million for U.S. charities. That makes the average benefit to each local charity just $400 over the entirety of over nine years of donating.

In the last week before Gov. Larry Hogan left office, the Department of Commerce announced expanded enterprise zones in both Hagerstown and Salisbury. Now, the business development program, which started in 1982 to provide tax incentives to companies locating in the state’s most economically distressed communities, has come under scrutiny. “The enterprise zone program is one of the most expensive business tax credits in our state,” said Delegate Julie Palakovich Carr, sponsor of a bill to alter the program, during a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Thursday in Annapolis. “It’s not working as intended.”

After facing strong criticism on social media, a Towson bar says it will no longer host a fundraiser for people who were arrested for participating in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. In an email Monday evening, leaders of the Charles Village Pub & Patio in Towson said they had decided not to provide a venue for the Republican Women of Baltimore County and the Patriot Club of America to host the fundraiser, which was scheduled to take place at the pub Tuesday from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Montgomery County Council President Evan Glass says he’s determined to push harder to attract and retain businesses — and on Monday, he announced a “road map” to boost the Maryland county’s economic development. During a news briefing, Glass explained he had moved to split one of the county council committees, making the Economic Development a free-standing panel. Glass said his next steps would include seeking a review of compliance issues to ease regulatory burdens, especially on small and minority businesses.

The first major bill outlining what the recreational cannabis market in Maryland might look like was introduced in the General Assembly on Friday. The 88-page bill goes into detail about most elements of the new legal market, from licensing to the tax structure. Here are five things business owners should know about the proposal, which is set for a hearing in the House of Delegates on Feb. 17. The House version of the bill, House Bill 556, was sponsored by Dels. C.T. Wilson, D-Charles County, and Vanessa Atterbeary, D-Howard County. An identical bill was cross-filed in the senate as Senate Bill 516, which is sponsored by Sens. Brian Feldman, D-Montgomery, and Antonio Hayes, D-Baltimore.