Joblessness rises in 95.9% of metro areas,<br> including Providence and New Bedford

Susan A. Baird

10/01/2008

WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area continued to rise in August, as the work force expanded while local payrolls shrank, according to the latest data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The New Bedford area jobless rate, although unchanged from July, also rose compared with a year ago.

The Greater Providence jobless rate rose to 8.5 percent before seasonal adjustment – up from 5.3 percent in August 2007 – after rising to 7.9 percent in July (READ MORE), the BLS said..
The Providence region’s civilian labor force (based on place of residence) shrank to 710,300 local workers from July’s 712,100 and the metro region’s year-ago total of 713,000. But non-farm payroll employment (based on place of work) edged up to 567,800 positions, from July’s 567,100, although it remained 2.2 percent below the year-ago 580,800 positions.
In the New Bedford metropolitan area, the unemployment rate last month was unchanged from July’s revised level of 7.0 percent but rose compared with the August 2007 level of 5.7 percent.
The area’s civilian labor force was 83,700 workers, a decrease from the July total of 84,200 workers but an increase from the year-ago 83,500. Employment on non-farm payrolls shrank to 64,900 jobs from July’s 65,000 positions, to 0.3 percent below the August 2007 total of 65,100 local jobs.
Meanwhile, the Ocean State’s unemployment rate climbed to 8.8 percent in August from the month-ago rate of 8.1 percent and year-ago rate of 5.2 percent, the bureau said. The Massachusetts jobless rate was 5.1 percent, down slightly from the July’s 5.2 percent but up sharply from the August 2007 rate of 4.2 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate last month climbed to 6.1 percent before seasonal adjustment, from July’s 6.0 percent and the August 2007 rate of 4.6 percent, the BLS said. Among the nation’s 369 major metropolitan areas, jobless rates were higher in August than a year earlier in 354 regions, or 95.9 percent. Unemployment was lower in 13 areas and unchanged in two.
Metro-area unemployment rates nationwide in August ranged from 2.6 percent in rural Sioux Falls, S.D., to 24.7 percent in agricultural El Centro, Calif., the BLS said. Eighty-nine major metropolitan areas had jobless rates of at least 10 percent – up from 11 metro areas in July – while five recorded rates of less than 3 percent.
Additional information, including the latest monthly Metropolitan Area Employment and Unemployment report, is available from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics at www.bls.gov.