R.I. economy continues to expand in December

KINGSTON – The latest analysis by Leonard Lardaro, a professor of economics at the University of Rhode Island, shows the state’s economy continued to grow in December.
“Rhode Island ended 2006 on a positive note, sustaining the enhanced pace of economic activity that began after the end of the third quarter,” he said.
Lardaro’s Current Conditions Index for December was 58, he said, unchanged from November but short of the December 2005 CCI of 67 points. Seven of 12 indicators improved in December.
The strongest indicators were retail sales, up 9.9 percent; employment services jobs, up 6.1 percent; and total manufacturing hours, up 4.8 percent, in what Lardaro called the manufacturing sector’s “first solid performance in years.”
The Current Conditions Index, created by Lardaro, measures the strength of the state’s economic climate; values above 50 indicate the economy is expanding.