R.I. unemployment rate highest in country, despite job growth

RHODE ISLAND'S NOVEMBER unemployment rate of 9 percent tied with Nevada as the highest in the country, despite the R.I. Department of Labor and Training report Thursday that showed Rhode Island-based jobs at a five-year high. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
RHODE ISLAND'S NOVEMBER unemployment rate of 9 percent tied with Nevada as the highest in the country, despite the R.I. Department of Labor and Training report Thursday that showed Rhode Island-based jobs at a five-year high. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s November unemployment rate of 9 percent remained the highest in New England and tied with Nevada for the highest unemployment rate in the country, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

Rhode Island joins 8 states and the District of Columbia with a jobless rate measurably higher than the national rate of 7 percent. However, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training reported Thursday that the 470,600 Rhode Island-based jobs recorded in November constituted the highest employment level in the state since December 2008, and marked the fourth consecutive month of job growth.

In Massachusetts, the unemployment rate fell to 7.1 percent in November, down from 7.2 percent in October, but the month represented the first time since 2007 that the state recorded an unemployment rate higher than the national rate.

Among the six New England states, Vermont boasted the region’s lowest unemployment rate, at 4.4 percent, followed by New Hampshire with 5.1 percent and Maine with 6.4 percent. Connecticut ranked fifth, below Massachusetts, with 7.6 percent.

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The national unemployment rate dipped to 7 percent in November from 7.3 percent in October.

In a ranking of the nine census divisions in the nation, New England placed dead-center for its seasonally-adjusted jobless rate of 6.9 percent, trailing the West North Central (4.9 percent), West South Central (6.1 percent), Mountain (6.7 percent) and South Atlantic (6.7 percent) regions. The highest unemployment rate by division was 8 percent, recorded in the Pacific region.

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  1. All you have to do is go: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htmto see that the REAL U.S. (U6) UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR NOVEMBER 2013 IS THIRTEEN POINT TWO PER CENT… (13.2%)…OR….go to: http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm RI U6 Unemployment rate…THIRD QUARTER (JULY-SEPTEMBER) 2013; FIFTEEN POINT EIGHT PER CENT… (15.8%)…However….even these numbers do not (1) count those individuals who dropped out of the Labor Force after one (1) year and (2) do not include those of the unemployed who went onto The Social Security Disability Insurance Program (Like I had to….) The real number is probably up somewhere around TWENTY-FIVE PER CENT (25%)