PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Labor and Training said Monday that the average annual private-sector wage in the Ocean State increased 1.7 percent to $49,558 from 2015 to 2016, while private-sector employment in the state increased 0.8 percent to 414,501 in the same time period. The statistics were revealed in the 2016 Rhode Island Employment & Wage Analysis published by the DLT’s Labor Market Information Unit.
Rhode Island’s job growth fell below both the New England and the national increases. New England saw job growth of 1.5 percent in 2016, led by Massachusetts’ 2 percent growth, then New Hampshire (1.9 percent) and Maine (1.4 percent). Connecticut (0.5 percent) and Vermont (0.3 percent) both lagged Rhode Island’s job growth. The national job creation increase was 1.9 percent.
The total of private-sector wages earned in 2016 in Rhode Island was $20.5 billion, a $509.8 million, or 2.5 percent, increase from 2015.
The DLT further broke down the net job gain by sector and average wages. The largest percentage of the total net job gain of 3,465 – 49.1 percent – came from jobs in sectors with average wages of less then $35,000 per year. Thirty-six and two-tenths percent of the state’s net job gain came from jobs for which the average salary was between $35,000-$59,999 per year. The smallest percentage, 14.7 percent, was made up of sectors for which the average salary was greater than $60,000.
The net job gain for the state was arrived at by subtracting the number of jobs lost over the year, 1,811, from the number of jobs created, 5,276. A further breakdown of the gains and losses reveals strengths and weaknesses in the Rhode Island economy and the unequal distribution of job winners and losers.
For instance, not only were jobs that earned less than $35,000 – including accommodation & food service (average wage, $19,712); arts, entertainment & recreation ($31,017); other services ($31,925); retail trade ($30,340); and agriculture, forestry, fishing & hunting ($34,688) – the largest single grouping of net job gains, with 1,702 jobs created, there were no losses at that income level in the course of the year.
On the other hand, jobs with average yearly pay of more than $60,000 saw significant declines in the numbers along with growth in certain areas, with 1,335 jobs at this level created but 827 lost. For instance, management of companies & enterprises (average salary of $119,462), as well as professional & technical services ($73,494) both saw job increases year over year. But information ($72,426), wholesale trade ($70,520), finance & insurance ($94,603) and utilities ($100,269) all saw jobs lost in 2016.
The single largest job sector in Rhode Island in 2016 was health care & social assistance (with an average salary of $45,802), at 19.3 percent if the state’s workforce. The next largest sectors were accommodation & food services (11.6 percent and average wage of $19,712) and retail trade (11.6 percent and $30,340). Manufacturing contributed 9.8 percent of the state’s workforce, with an average annual wage of $56,121.
The category with the largest single job count increase was construction, which added 1,123 jobs, with an average wage of $58,244.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
