So far in 2026, there have been 1,723 layoffs announced in Maryland by 25 different employers, a 17.7% decrease from the 2,094 announced in 2025. The layoffs were made under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification law, which requires companies with 100 employees or more to give workers 60 days' notice of a job loss affecting 50 people or more at a single site. The decrease in jobs was attributed to a decrease in employment numbers due to a strike in health care, which led to the rise of the federal unemployment rate to 4.4%.