PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island continued to have the third-worst level of joblessness in the nation last month as unemployment rose to 13 percent, the U.S. Labor Department said Wednesday.
Michigan again had the highest jobless rate of any state in September at 15.3 percent. For the second month in a row it was followed by Nevada, where the jobless rate reached 13.3 percent last month. Behind Nevada and Rhode Island was California at 12.2 percent.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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In all, 43 states lost jobs in September and 23 states saw their unemployment rates increase. (Variations in how employment is calculated can keep a state’s unemployment rate from rising even when jobs are lost.)
The national jobless rate was 9.8 percent in September, up from 9.7 percent in August. The U.S. economy has lost more than 7 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, the most of any downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Rhode Island continued to be an outlier in the region last month, as the Northeast posted the lowest regional jobless rate in the nation at 9 percent.
Rhode Island lost 21,600 jobs in the 12-month period that ended last month, reducing the state’s total payrolls to 458,700, the lowest total number since January 1999. The state has lost 37,700 jobs since payrolls peaked at 496,400 in January 2007.
