A Washington Business Journal story published March 1 cites “government policies” and “geography” as two main factors hampering economic recovery in Maryland.

In response, Dominick Murray, secretary of Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development, submitted an op-ed touting a different set of numbers:

• 81 percent of the jobs lost since the recession that began in 2008 have been recovered
• Over the last year, “Maryland’s private sector businesses created jobs 46 percent faster than businesses in Virginia.”

Still, despite the U.S. Chamber of Commerce ranking Maryland the number one state in innovation and entrepreneurship in 2012, unemployment remains high in a number of counties. In Baltimore city, the unemployment rate is 9.9 percent. And the state’s average unemployment rate of 6.6 percent has remained unchanged.

Read Murray’s full op-ed at MDBizNews.