R.I. hits record job count in May<br> in spite of slow economy

EMPLOYMENT at businesses in Rhode Island reached another record high in May,  when non-farm payrolls in the state totalled 489,000 jobs, the DLT reported today. /
EMPLOYMENT at businesses in Rhode Island reached another record high in May, when non-farm payrolls in the state totalled 489,000 jobs, the DLT reported today. /

CRANSTON – The job count in Rhode Island once again has hit a record: 498,000 payroll jobs, an increase of 200 from April, with small gains across several industry sectors, according to a report released today by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training.
“May represents the fourth straight month of job growth in Rhode Island,” Adelita S. Orefice, director of the DLT, said in a news release. “In fact, Rhode Island jobs have increased in eight out of the last 10 months.”
But the state’s unemployment rate also rose last month, to 4.8 percent, the highest level so far this year and three-tenths of a point above the national unemployment rate, 4.5 percent. In April, Rhode Island had been on par with the U.S. unemployment level.
Still, officials stressed, the number of Rhode Islanders collecting unemployment benefits, 27,500, was “well below” the number in May 2006, which was 29,900.
The number of employed Rhode Islanders, on the other hand – which includes those who work outside the state but live here – has gone up and down in the last few months. It peaked at 553,800 in February, was down to 549,800 in April, and partly rebounded, to 551,900, in May.
Orefice has said that one of Rhode Island’s strengths in this uncertain economy is that it has a wide range of industries creating jobs, even if it’s in smaller numbers than, say, the Route 128 corridor in Massachusetts has been known to produce in its specialty, technology.
From April to May, the DLT reported gains in construction, transportation and utilities, and health care and social assistance (300 jobs in each), and smaller gains in retail trade, financial activities, arts, entertainment and recreation, and government.
The manufacturing, meanwhile, shed a net 700 jobs, with the biggest losses in chemical manufacturing, textiles and food manufacturing. Wholesale trade shed 400 jobs, the DLT said. Year over year, the Rhode Island job count is up 6,100, a 1.2-percent increase, with the largest gains in professional and business services (1,900) and construction, financial activities, and health care and social assistance (1,400 each).

Manufacturing employment is down by 2,300 jobs, the DLT said. The average hourly manufacturing wage, however, has risen 32 cents in the last year, to $13.74 per hour. The work week also has increased; manufacturing employees worked an average of 39.6 hours per week in May, the DLT said, 0.5 hours more than in May 2006.

Additional labor force data is available from the R.I. Department of Labor and Training at www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi.

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