CRANSTON – The state jobless rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 10.5 percent in February as the number of local jobs fell for the 13th consecutive month, despite an increase in the number of state residents holding jobs anywhere in the country, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training (DLT) said today in its monthly job report.
Rhode Island’s official unemployment rate last month edged up 0.2 percentage points compared with January – when the state had the nation’s third-highest reading, after Michigan’s 11.6 percent and South Carolina’s 10.4 percent (READ MORE) – slowing from the previous month’s 0.9-percentage-point increase. Year over year, however, it rose 4 full percentage points compared with the 6.5 percent rate the state recorded for February 2008. (READ MORE)
Last month’s reading was the third in a row to qualify as Rhode Island’s highest since 1976, when the government revised the way it measures joblessness.
By comparison, the nationwide jobless rate climbed to 8.1 percent, the highest since December 1983, based on the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ recent Employment Situation report. That represented a 0.5-percentage-point increase from January’s U.S. unemployment 7.6 percent and a 3.3-percentage-point increase from the year-ago rate of 4.8 percent. (READ MORE) The Bay State’s jobless rate rose 0.4 percentage points last month to 7.8 percent, from 7.4 percent in January and 4.6 percent a year ago, based on yesterday’s report from the Mass. Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development (EOLWD).
Rhode Island’s February report showed the total number of Rhode Islanders classified as unemployed – those who are both available for work and actively seeking new jobs – rose by 1,900 people, or 3.29 percent, to 59,700. Compared with the end of February 2008, that represented an increase of 22,500 job-seekers, or 60.48 percent.
Yet the state’s resident employment – the number of residents with jobs anywhere in the nation – rose last month to 506,700, an increase of 1,800, or 0.36 percent. It was the state’s first month-over-month increase since January 2007, when resident employment grew by 2,000, the DLT said. But compared with February 2008, the number of Rhode Islanders with jobs fell by 24,500, or 5.08 percent.
Meanwhile, the number of payroll jobs at Rhode Island non-farm employers fell to 467,300, after seasonal adjustment. That represented a decline of 2,300 jobs, or 0.49 percent, compared with January’s 469,600 positions; and a decline of 20,700 jobs, or 4.24 percent, compared with February 2008’s establishment employment of 488,000.
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The Ocean State’s largest seasonally adjusted job loss last month was in manufacturing, which lost 1,200 jobs “due mainly to declines in several durable goods industries,” the DLT said. Construction lost 700 jobs compared with January, posting losses “in both the residential and nonresidential components of the industry.” Other sectors shedding positions in February were professional and business services, -400; retail trade, -300; financial activities, the arts, entertainment and recreation sector and government employment, -200 apiece; and the transportation and utilities sector and other services, -100 each.
Partly offsetting those declines were month-over-month job growth in three sectors: accommodation and food services, which added 500 jobs last month, led by full-service restaurants; health care and social assistance (+400); and educational services (+200). Showing no change in employment last month were information, wholesale trade and the natural resources and mining sector.
Manufacturing also led the state in year-over-year job losses, shedding 4,800 positions compared with a February 2008. Heavy losses also were seen in retail trade, -3,500; construction, -3,400; professional and business services, -3,400; financial activities, -1,500; and government employment, -1,400. Smaller but still significant losses were recorded in arts, entertainment and recreation, -800; other services -700; the information sector, -600; the transportation and utilities sector and wholesale trade, -500; and accommodation and food services, -100.
Adding jobs compared with February 2008 were two sectors: health care and social assistance, +400 jobs; and educational services, +100.
The average wage of manufacturing production workers in Rhode Island rose to $14.09, an increase of 10 cents from January and 21 cents from February 2009, the DLT said. But their average work week shrank to 37.0 hours, a decline of 0.4 hours compared with January and 1.3 hours compared with a year ago.
For information about unemployment benefits and related services from the R.I. Department of Labor and Training and its netWORKri one-stop career centers, go to www.dlt.ri.gov/jobseeker. To learn more about the services, programs and grant opportunities available through the DLT’s Employer Service Unit – or to meet with an employer-service representative – call 1-888-616-JOBS or visit www.dlt.ri.gov/employer.htm.
