PROVIDENCE – Despite recovering a number of jobs, economic activity in Rhode Island continued to be “severely constrained” because of the coronavirus pandemic, said in a report released Tuesday by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Public Expenditure Council.
The state’s gross domestic product, or GDP, projected to have expanded at a 25.6% annualized rate in the third quarter after declining by an annualized 32.4% in the second quarter.
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The quarterly rate of increase was slightly slower than the rest of the New England region, which increased its GDP at a 27.6% annualized rate and slower than the rest of the United States, which increased at a 33.1% annualized rate in the quarter.
“Rhode Island’s economic contraction in the second quarter of 2020 was greater than contractions across the region and nation, and the state’s partial recovery in the third quarter is projected to be slower than that of New England and the nation,” the report.
The report’s announcement noted that Rhode Island’s GDP growth has been consistently slower than that compared to the region’s and nation.
According to the report, there was job growth in nearly every sector in the last quarter, but these gains did not make up for the losses in the second quarter.
“Rhode Island’s economy has begun to recover from the historic contraction we saw in the second quarter, but we are still in a much weaker position than before the pandemic, and should anticipate a long road to full recovery,” said Michael DiBiase, the president and CEO of RIPEC.
Unemployment claims decreased by 54.7% in the third quarter, compared to its 83.2% increase in the second quarter and a 381.7% increase in the first quarter.
“Rhode Island’s labor market also experienced a partial recovery in the third quarter, but unemployment is markedly high, and job losses are still significant,” read the report.
Employment in the leisure and hospitality industries grew by 53.3% in the third quarter, but only about half of the jobs that were lost between March and April were recovered. However, education and health services jobs have not been recovered, according to the report, and remain 5.5% lower in the third quarter compared to the first quarter of 2020. Professional and business services employment remained 8% below first-quarter levels.
The report said that the manufacturing industry has stayed steady throughout the health crisis so far, as employment levels hovered at approximately 39,000 workers in 2020. Jobs in the sector increased 3.4% in the third quarter compared to a 4.2% decrease in the second quarter.
Rhode Island’s real wages and salary disbursements increased by 5.9% after a second quarter decline of 7.6%.
Alexa Gagosz is a PBN staff writer. Contact her at Gagosz@PBN.com. You may also follow her on Twitter at @AlexaGagosz.
