There is much discussion these days about employment, unemployment and what really matters in the job market when it comes to statistics. But let’s not discuss all of that right away.
Instead Rhode Islanders might take a moment to note that in January, the jobless rate in the Ocean State was judged by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as not being statistically significantly different from the national rate – 5.3 percent hereabouts versus 4.9 percent across the nation.
That state of affairs is a far cry from the days when Rhode Island found itself among the top five for unemployment month after month, an outlier among outliers, and not in a good way.
In fact, the BLS determined that we are one of 11 states for which the January 2015 to January 2016 period showed a significant decline in the jobless rate – from the previous 6.5 percent to the aforementioned 5.3 percent.
In fact, it is the change of direction in joblessness that matters most here. For while there are legitimate bones to pick when it comes to the size of the labor force, underemployment and hours worked, the fact is that when combined with the fact that jobs did increase over the year, on balance, the state is better off than it was at the beginning of 2015.
Of course, a deeper dive into the statistics yields a more nuanced – and less rosy – picture of the job scene. For instance, Rhode Island has the second-highest jobless rate in New England, with Connecticut posting 5.5 percent unemployment. Thus, Little Rhody’s 5.3 percent is significantly higher than the region’s 4.6 percent rate.
And indeed, the civilian labor force in January had 2,900 fewer people than it did a year earlier. That is not a change that anyone would like to see.
But it’s important that when discussing Rhode Island’s jobs situation, that the full picture is examined. An approach of less rigor does no one any favors. •
