PROVIDENCE – The unemployment rate in the Providence metropolitan area decreased 0.7 percentage points year over year to 4.3 percent, according to non-seasonally-adjusted labor force data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released Wednesday.
The national unemployment rate in June was 4.5 percent, not seasonally adjusted, a decline from 5.1 percent in the same 2016 period.
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The BLS said that in June there were 29,929 unemployed civilians in the Providence metro area (an 12.5 percent year-over-year decline) and 691,448 in the civilian labor force (a 1.1 percent increase over the year).
The metro area increased its number of employees on nonfarm payrolls year over year (also not seasonally adjusted) 0.9 percent to 598,000 workers.
Regional metro area performance
- Manchester, N.H. – 2.7% unemployment (-0.1 percentage points year over year); 119,080 labor force (+1.4% year over year)
- Portland-South Portland, Maine – 3% unemployment (-0.1 percentage points); 211,542 labor force (+2.4%)
- Burlington-South Burlington, Vt. – 3.1% unemployment (-0.3 percentage points); 347,195 labor force (-0.8%)
- Boston-Cambridge-Nashua, Mass.-N.H. – 4% unemployment (+0.3 percentage points); 2,748,756 labor force (+2.9%)
- Providence-Warwick – 4.3% unemployment rate (-0.7 percentage points); 691,448 labor force (+1.1%)
- Worcester, Mass. – 4.6% unemployment (+0.2 percentage points); 356,710 labor force (+2.2%)
- Norwich-New London-Westerly, Conn.-R.I. – 4.9% unemployment (-0.6 percentage points); 146,493 labor force (+1.7%)
- New Bedford – 6% unemployment (+0.6 percentage points); 87,789 labor force (+4.1%)
The unemployment rate in Rhode Island also decreased year over year, falling 0.9 percentage points to 4.2 percent on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis. The number of unemployed in the state in June was 23,385, a year-over-year drop of 18.2 percent.
The civilian labor force grew by 4,909 people year over year to 561,084 potential workers. In the Ocean State, nonfarm payroll employees rose 1.4 percent year over year to 504,400.
In Massachusetts, not seasonally adjusted employees on nonfarm payrolls increased 1.9 percent year over year to 3.7 million. Unemployment in the Bay State increased 0.4 percentage points year over year to 4.4 percent in June.
New England state performance
- Connecticut – 5.1% unemployment (-0.3 percentage points year over year); 1,954,854 labor force (+2.2% year over year)
- Maine – 3.6% unemployment (-0.2 percentage points); 712,383 labor force (+1.5%)
- Massachusetts – 4.4% unemployment (+0.4 percentage points); 3,729,449 labor force (+2.8%)
- New Hampshire – 2.7% unemployment (-0.2 percentage points); 760,213 labor force (+0.7%)
- Rhode Island – 4.2% unemployment (-0.9 percentage points); 561,084 labor force (+0.9%)
- Vermont – 3.1% unemployment (-0.3 percentage points); 347,195 labor force (-0.8%)
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
