Jobless rates fall in metro Providence, New Bedford

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WASHINGTON – Echoing the national trend, the unemployment rate in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area fell to 6.0 percent in April from the previous month’s 6.9 percent but remained above its April 2007 level of 5.2 percent, according to a report today from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The Providence metro region’s civilian labor force (based on place of residence) shrank slightly to 700,400 workers last month from March’s upwardly revised 702,500 workers and April 2007’s 707,200. Non-farm payroll employment (based on place of work) fell to 573,300 jobs – from March’s upwardly revised 566,300 jobs – to 1.7 percent below the year-ago 583,100.
In the New Bedford area, the unemployment rate fell sharply to 6.1 percent from March’s 7.8 percent, matching the metro region’s jobless rate in April 2007.
The New Bedford area’s civilian labor force shrank to 83,100 local workers in April from the previous month’s 84,200 and the year-ago period’s 84,000 workers. Employment on local non-farm payrolls fell to 66,500 jobs in April – from March’s upwardly revised 65,700 – to 0.6 percent below the year-ago 66,900 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Rhode Island unemployment rate fell to 6.0 percent in April from its month-ago rate of 6.7 percent, although it remained above the year-ago rate of 4.9 percent, the bureau said. The Massachusetts jobless rate fell to 3.9 percent from March’s 4.8 percent and the April 2007 level of 4.3 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate in April was 4.8 percent before seasonal adjustment, down from March’s 5.2 percent but up from the year-ago level of 4.3 percent, the BLS said.
Jobless rates were higher in April than a year earlier in 261 of the nation’s 369 major metropolitan areas, lower in 88 and unchanged in 20. Metro-area unemployment rates nationwide ranged from 2.2 percent in rural Logan, Utah-Idaho, to 18.4 percent in agricultural El Centro, Calif.
Additional information, including the 21-page Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment report, is available from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov.

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