CCI fell 9 pts. from March, bounced back 50 pts. from April 2016

LEONARD LARDARO'S Current Conditions Index suggests that Rhode Island's economy expanded in April, but at a slower rate than March. / COURTESY LEONARD LARDARO
LEONARD LARDARO'S Current Conditions Index suggests that Rhode Island's economy expanded in April, but at a slower rate than March. / COURTESY LEONARD LARDARO

SOUTH KINGSTOWN – Momentum gained through 2016 has sustained itself through April 2017 according to the latest Current Conditions Index measured by University of Rhode Island economist Leonard Lardaro.

The CCI measurement for April 2017 was 83. A CCI reading greater than 50 suggests economic growth and a value less than 50 indicates contraction.

From March 2017 to April it fell nine points from 92 to 83, but year-over-year the CCI gained 50 points from 33 in April 2016.

In each of the four months of 2017 CCI measurements outperformed their year-over-year comparisons.

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In April, 10 of the 12 indicators measured in the CCI improved.

Marking its sixth consecutive increase, U.S. consumer sentiment grew by 8.9 percent in April.

Total manufacturing hours rose by 3.3 percent, which Lardaro called a “robust” move. The total manufacturing wage rose by 3.7 percent in April.

Falling 15.4 percent, new claims, a timely measures of layoffs, experienced its eight improvement in the past nine months. Benefit exhaustions, which illustrate longer-term unemployment, fell by 8.3 percent in April.

Both government employment and private service-producing employment grew by 0.5 percent in April, Lardaro said the increase by private service-producing employment was its slowest growth to-date in 2017.

Retail sales grew by 5.3 percent in April.

Characterizing it as a “train wreck,” Lardaro said the state’s labor force grew by 0.6 percent in April. This, he said, led to a 1.1 percent fall in the unemployment rate “for all the right reasons.”

The two indicators which did not improve from March to April were single-unit permits and employment services jobs.

Single-unit permits fell by 6.2 percent in April.

Now stretching over a year, the fall of employment service jobs was extended in April when it saw a 3.2 percent decrease.

The “deterioration [of employment service jobs] suggests the potential for weakening future employment growth,” said Lardaro.

Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey.

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