CUMBERLAND - Western Maryland suffered an 8 percent loss in manufacturing employment in a one-year period that began in May 2006, according to the 2008 Maryland/DC Manufacturers Directory, an industrial guide published annually by Manufacturers' News Inc.

The drop makes it the largest across the state when compared to Central and Eastern Maryland, which were down one-half percent and 4.6 percent, respectively. Statewide, industrial jobs were down just 1.7 percent, with a loss of 3,856 manufacturing jobs and 114 manufacturers.

"I tend to think the trend is not only in this county but in the Mid-Atlantic region," said Allegany County Economic Development Director Matt Diaz. "It will continue declining because there's going to be more outsourcing and automation."

According to the report, Western Maryland held 23,380 manufacturing jobs in 2007, with Eastern Maryland trailing with 19,767 jobs and Central Maryland leading the pack with 162,767 jobs, or 79 percent of the state's industrial employment. The report says the Maryland/D.C. region has 5,521 manufacturers employing 205,914 workers.

Garrett County Economic Development Assistant Director Frank Shap said he agrees that manufacturing employment is generally decreasing across the state, but that trend is not true of Garrett County.

"If anything ... we've had an increase in manufacturing jobs," he said.

Shap cited the opening of ClosetMaid combined with the stability and growth of other companies in the county, including Phenix Technologies, which manufactures high-voltage testing equipment.

"We've increased by about 20 percent so far this year. We're about 105 now," said Phenix President Frank Vitez on Tuesday morning. "We're adding more people every day."

In Allegany County, large layoffs were handed out at Biederlack, NewPage and Bayliner last year, but Diaz said they didn't create "a large deficit" for the county's economy.

He pointed to companies such as American Woodmark, Hunter Douglas and Sierra Hygiene as examples of expanded growth.

"There are still manufacturing jobs out there and we still market that because we think it's viable to this particular county," he added.

Baltimore is the top industrial employer in the region, according to the report, followed by Washington, D.C., Linthicum, Hagerstown and Frederick.

Currently, Allegany County's biggest employer is the Western Maryland Health System.

"There was a time when manufacturing, by a large margin, was our biggest employer," Diaz said. "Now, I think a lot of other employers are getting closer to that."

Tai Shadrick can be reached at tshadrick@times-news.com.