CRANSTON – Rhode Island’s seasonally adjusted unemployment in April was 3%, one-tenth of a percentage point less than March, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training said Thursday.
The DLT says the number of unemployed Rhode Islanders in April was 16,900, down 500 from March but up 100 compared with the same month a year ago. Also, the number of employed residents was at 549,800 as of April, up 1,000 from the previous month but down 5,200 from 2022, according to the DLT.
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Overall, the state’s labor force was 566,600 in April, up 400 from March but down 5,200 from April 2022, the DLT said. Rhode Island’s unemployment rate in April 2022 was 2.9%, according to the department.
The state’s total nonfarm jobs in April totaled 495,600. That’s a 3,800-job drop from March. These jobs exclude farming and some government, private and nonprofit workers.
Also, the DLT said that through April, the state’s economy has recovered 96,600 jobs, or 89.2%, of the 108,300 jobs that were lost during the pandemic’s shutdown.
Of the state’s nonfarm jobs, 11 industry sectors lost jobs in April: construction, manufacturing, wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and warehousing and utilities, real estate, rental and leasing, administrative and waste services, health care and social assistance, arts, entertainment and recreation, accommodations and food services, and government.
Seasonally adjusted nonfarm payrolls in Rhode Island by sector in April:
- Accommodation and food services: 48,700, a decrease of 400 from March and 1,000 year over year.
- Administrative and waste services: 28,000, a decrease of 1,100 since March and 1,400 year over year.
- Arts, entertainment and recreation: 8,400, a decrease of 200 since March but an increase of 700 year over year.
- Construction: 22,600, a decrease of 800 from March but still up 1,600 year over year.
- Educational services: 24,700, level with March but still an overall decline of 900 year over year.
- Finance and insurance: 29,000, level with March but a decrease of 100 year over year.
- Government: 64,600, a decrease of 400 from March but a 1,600 increase year over year.
- Health care and social assistance: 79,300 a decline of 100 from March but still up 400 year over year.
- Information: 5,900, an increase of 100 and 200 year over year.
- Retail trade: 6,100, a decrease of 200 from March and 800 year over year.
- Manufacturing: 39,500, a decrease of 200 from March and 800 year over year. Production workers in the sector earned $24.47 per hour in April, an increase of 35 cents from March and 64 cents from one year prior.
