The unemployment rate for New England fell 0.2 percentage points year over year in February to 7 percent, seasonally adjusted, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Friday. more

Applications for unemployment benefits in the U.S. plunged more than forecast last week unwinding a surge caused by the Easter holiday and spring break at schools. more

Unemployment rates fell year over year in February in 187 of the United States’ 372 metropolitan areas, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro, according to the latest non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, reported Wednesday. more

Tunstall Americas, a division of U.K.-based Tunstall Healthcare Group, and a provider of health care communications services, is in the process of hiring 250 people to fully staff its new Pawtucket local and will hold a local recruitment drive on Friday, April 19, to find candidates. more

Three-hundred and ninety-nine nurses and union members picketed outside the Dudley Street entrance of Women & Infants Hospital on April 11, calling on the Providence hospital to lift its hiring freeze and fill vacant positions with permanent, local workers instead of hiring temporary, subcontracted “traveler” nurses. more

Fewer Americans than forecast filed first-time claims for unemployment insurance payments last week, pointing to an improving labor market. more

The number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits was little changed last week, signaling the labor market is stabilizing. more

To the Editor: The Governor’s Workforce Board (GWB) deeply appreciates the vote of support for job training expressed in the PBN’s editorial entitled “Broad job training efforts a good sign” (4/15/13). The editorial specifically commends the GWB for two grants recently awarded to Amos House in Providence and Connecting Children and Families in Woonsocket to partner with employers in the food-service industry to train 120 homeless, unemployed and underemployed Rhode Islanders. These awards were two of 10 Innovative Partnership grants – totaling nearly $2 million – that were announced in March by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee to support innovative business-education partnerships that will prepare unemployed Rhode Islanders with the skills that businesses need to fill current and future vacancies in high-growth occupations and industries. more

Unemployment rates fell year over year in March in 306 of the United States’ 372 metropolitan areas, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro, according to the latest non-seasonally adjusted data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. more

Rhode Island’s unemployment rate fell to 8.8 percent in April, the 10th consecutive monthly drop in the jobless rate and the lowest it has been since October 2008, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training said Thursday. more