Job Search News

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Rhode Island’s unemployment rate continued to surpass the national jobless percentage of 9.4 in May. During the month, the state’s unemployment rate climbed a full point from 11.1 percent to 12.1 percent. This means that the Rhode Island job market became significantly more competitive for those currently out of work.

Rhode Island’s limited economy and small size have caused it to be hit harder by the national recession than many other areas. Over the course of the last 12 months the state’s unemployment rate has climbed 4.7 percent from May 2008’s 7.4 percent. Despite this, Rhode Island’s situation was not the worst in the country. Michigan had a jobless rate of 14.1 percent and Oregon’s unemployment rate was 12.4 percent.

May marked the 15th consecutive month that non-farm Rhode Island jobs declined. During the month employers did away with a total of 1,100 jobs. This brought the state’s payrolls down to 463,500 positions, according to the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training (DLT).

This job decline means that the number of people looking for work increased to 68,500 individuals, which is 5,800 more unemployed residents than there were in April. Altogether 26,600 more people are jobless in Rhode Island than in May of 2008. Currently 497,600 residents have jobs in the state.

The government sector lost 500 jobs last month. According to the DLT, temporary Census Bureau workers being hired off after they finished their work for the 2010 survey caused this decline.

The state’s professional and business services lost 300 jobs in May and the catch-all category of “other services” saw a decline of 200 positions. Other sectors that saw a loss of 100 jobs each included: healthcare and educational services, information, transportation and utilities, manufacturing and leisure.

Not all of Rhode Island’s industries lost positions during the month. Accommodations and food services gained 500 positions, according to the DLT. The construction sector, which has been suffering form the housing market crisis, saw the creation of 300 positions.

Two areas of employment in the state, financial activities and natural resources and mining, remained steady for the month.

The year-over-year job decline was most notable in the mining and logging sector, according to the BLS. Despite not losing jobs in May, this area of employment has seen a 33.3 percent decline over the course of the last 12 months. Other industries to post a large than 10 percent decline over the course of the year included construction, with a 12.1 percent loss, and manufacturing, which lost 10.1 percent of its positions.

Tags: Rhode Island Jobs

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 28th, 2009 at 4:32 am and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.