PROVIDENCE – With the drop of Rhode Island’s unemployment rate in July to 7.7 percent, the state no longer claimed the highest jobless rate in the country for the first time since October, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Monday.
Between July 2013 and July 2014, the Ocean State’s unemployment rate fell 1.9 percentage points from 9.6 percent to 7.7 percent, a statistically significant decline. Month over month, the unemployment rate fell two-tenths of a percentage point from 7.8 percent.
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Mississippi reported the highest unemployment rate for July at 8 percent, followed by Georgia at 7.8 percent. Rhode Island tied with Nevada and Michigan for third-highest rate, each with 7.7 percent.
Despite the declines, Rhode Island remained one of nine U.S. states with an unemployment rate significantly higher than the U.S. rate of 6.2 percent.
In Massachusetts, the unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in July, seasonally adjusted. A month earlier, in June, the Massachusetts unemployment rate was 5.6 percent and the July 2013 the rate was 7.3 percent.
Among the six New England states, Vermont had the lowest unemployment rate, at 4 percent, followed by New Hampshire at 4.4 percent and Maine at 5.2 percent. Connecticut, at 6.8 percent, ranked fifth in New England, below Massachusetts.
Nationally, the lowest state unemployment rate, 2.8 percent, was recorded in North Dakota.
Well there folks…if you go to http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm (published on July 30th) you will see that, at Level U6, we’re still at FIFTEEN POINT THREE PERCENT (15.3%)…now California and Nevada are TIED for the bottom/last place, with Arizona coming in right behind them and RI next in line….