R.I. jobless rate remains third highest in nation at 7.7%

RHODE ISLAND continues to have the third highest unemployment rate in the nation, trailing only Georgia, which ranked No. 1, and Mississippi, No. 2, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
RHODE ISLAND continues to have the third highest unemployment rate in the nation, trailing only Georgia, which ranked No. 1, and Mississippi, No. 2, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island continued to have the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation in August at 7.7 percent, trailing only Georgia, which was No. 1 at 8.1 percent, and Mississippi, No. 2 with 7.9 percent, according to data released Friday from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This marks the second month that Rhode Island has had the third-highest jobless rate. July had marked the first time since October that the state was bumped out of the top spot for joblessness.
The bureau reported that regional and state unemployment rates changed little in August, and that the national jobless rate was 6.1 percent compared with July’s rate of 6.2 percent.
Rhode Island was among eight states and the District of Columbia that had significantly higher rates than the nation’s rate. North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate at 2.8 percent.
Rhode Island did show a drop in the unemployment rate from August 2013 to August 2014, going from 9.6 percent to 7.7 percent, a 1.9 percentage point decline.
Among the other New England states, Vermont had the lowest unemployment rate at 4.1 percent, followed by New Hampshire at 4.4 percent; Maine at 5.6 percent; Massachusetts, 5.8 percent; and Connecticut, 6.6 percent.
Massachusetts’ rate landed it at No. 22 on the list, tied with Indiana, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. In July, Massachusetts’ rate was 6.1 percent.

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  1. If you go to http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm (published on July 30th) you will see that, at Level U6, we’re still at FIFTEEN POINT THREE PERCENT (15.3%)…now California and Nevada are TIED for the bottom/last place, with Arizona coming in right behind them and RI next in line….The NEXT report broken down to State(s) level is due to be published on Friday, October 24th….until then….jkp