WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area surged in May, erasing April’s decline, according to a report today from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The metro area’s jobless rate rose to 6.9 percent in May from the previous month’s 6.0 percent and the May 2007 level of 4.8 percent, the BLS said.
The Providence region’s civilian labor force (based on place of residence) shrank to 697,400 local workers from April’s upwardly revised 700,500 and May 2007’s 705,900. Non-farm payroll employment (based on place of work) rose to 577,900 jobs – from April’s upwardly revised 573,400 jobs – although it remained 2.1 percent below the year-ago 590,100 positions.
In the New Bedford metropolitan area, the unemployment rate rose to 6.4 percent from April’s 6.1 percent and May 2007’s 5.6 percent.
The New Bedford area’s civilian labor force grew to 83,300 local workers in May from the previous month’s 83,100 and the year-ago period’s 84,200. Employment on local non-farm payrolls increased to 67,300 jobs in May – from April’s 66,900 – but remained 0.5 percent below the area’s May 2007 total of 67,800 jobs.
Meanwhile, the Rhode Island unemployment rate surged to 7.2 percent in May from the state’s April rate of 6.7 percent and the year-ago rate of 4.7 percent, the bureau said. (READ MORE) The Massachusetts jobless rate rose to 4.7 percent from April’s 3.9 percent and May 2007’s 4.3 percent. (READ MORE)
The U.S. unemployment rate in May was 5.2 percent before seasonal adjustment, up from 4.8 percent in March and 4.3 percent a year ago, the BLS said.
Jobless rates were higher in May than a year earlier in 328 of the nation’s 369 major metropolitan areas, lower in 30 and unchanged in 11, the BLS said. Metro-area unemployment rates nationwide ranged from 1.9 percent in rural Idaho Falls, Idaho, to 19.2 percent in agricultural El Centro, Calif.
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After seasonal adjustment, the U.S. jobless rate was 5.5 percent in both May and June, the BLS said in its national Employment Situation report last Thursday. (READ MORE)
Additional information, including the 20-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.
