PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s jobless rate edged down a tenth of a percentage point to 10.8 percent in June, but the state lost 1,500 jobs for the month, ending four consecutive months of job gains, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training said Friday.
By comparison, the U.S. employment rate rose a tenth of a percentage point in June to 9.2 percent while Massachusetts’ rate remained unchanged at 7.6 percent.
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Rhode Island’s net loss of 1,500 jobs pulled the state’s nonfarm payrolls down to 462,400 in June. Rhode Island still had 4,500 more jobs than it had a year earlier, when unemployment was 11.6 percent.
A large part of the job losses were tied to the education services sector, which shed 1,900 jobs in June, many at the state’s private colleges and universities, the DLT said.
The number of unemployed residents – those classified as available for work and actively seeking employment – dropped by 700 in June to 61,300. At the same time, the state’s labor force declined by 2,600 for the month to 567,100, down 2,000 from May figures.
The number of employed Rhode Island residents decreased by 2,000 in June to 505,700.
The average weekly claims for unemployment benefits decreased by 1,166 to 30,947 in June, down 3.6 percent from May.
Aside from education services, job losses were reported in professional and business services (400) and health care and social assistance (400), manufacturing (300) and financial activities (200), according to the DLT.
Jobs gains came in construction (700), accommodation and food services (700), arts, entertainment and recreation (200) and “other services” (100). The increase in construction employment was the largest monthly gain since April 2005, when the sector added 800 jobs.
Employment in wholesale trade, retail trade, transportation and utilities, information, government and natural resources and mining were unchanged for the month.
Manufacturing-production workers in Rhode Island earned an average hourly wage of $15.96 in June, up 26 cents from April and up $1.27 from a year earlier.
The state’s average manufacturing work week in June was 39.7 hours, up a half hour from May and up eight-tenths of an hour from last year, DLT said.
