Before COVID-19 shutdown, Providence metro unemployment rate rises to 4.9% in March

THE PROVIDENCE METRO unemployment rate rose to 4.9% in mid-March, prior to the shutdown on nonessential businesses in the area due to COVID-19. / PBN FILE PHOTO/CHRIS BERGENHEIM
THE PROVIDENCE METRO unemployment rate rose to 4.9% in mid-March, prior to the shutdown on nonessential businesses in the area due to COVID-19. / PBN FILE PHOTO/CHRIS BERGENHEIM

PROVIDENCE – The nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate in the Providence-Warwick-Fall River metropolitan area increased 0.9 percentage points year over year to 4.9% in March,  the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Wednesday.

The figure is a snapshot of economic conditions in the first half of March, the BLS noted, prior to many of the major shutdowns of businesses and schools in the country. However, the BLS said that the figures captured the early impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, with jobless rates rising in 253 of 389 metro areas in the nation.

The U.S. jobless rate at that time was 4.5%.

The labor force in the metro area increased 1.4% year over year to 695,570. The number of unemployed in the metro area increased 24.4% to 34,227. Nonfarm employment in the area increased 0.2% year over year to 590,200.

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In the New Bedford metro area, the jobless rate was 5.3% in March, a 0.3 percentage point rise year over year. The metro’s labor force declined 2.5% year over year to 84,328. The number of unemployed in the metro remained relatively level at 4,435. Nonfarm employment in the metro declined 1.8% year over year to 65,400.

In the Norwich-New London, Conn.-Westerly metro area, the jobless rate in March increased 0.1 percentage points year over year to 4.1%. The labor force increased 0.8% year over year to 141,713. The number of unemployed in the area increased 4.6% year over year to 5,842. Nonfarm employment in the metro area declined 0.2% year over year to 126,500.

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