PROVIDENCE – The Rhode Island unemployment rate of 3.4% in January was the second highest in New England, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Monday.
The state’s percentage point decline of 0.3 percentage points was tied for the largest drop in the region with Massachusetts. Connecticut had the highest unemployment rate in the region at 3.7%.
The national unemployment rate in January was 3.6%, a decline from 4% one year prior.
Other New England unemployment rates in January:
- Vermont: 2.4%, unchanged from one year prior, Vermont was the only state in New England that had a decline in its labor force, the only state in the region with a decline in nonfarm employment, and the only New England state with an increase in the number of unemployed
- New Hampshire: 2.6%, a 0.1 percentage point increase year over year
- Massachusetts: 2.8%, a 0.3 percentage point decline year over year
- Maine: 3.1%, a 0.1 percentage point decline year over year
- Connecticut: 3.7%, a 0.1 percentage point year over year
