PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped again to 6.3 percent in February, its lowest level in eight years, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training reported.
That’s a two-tenths of a percentage point decline since January and 2.1 percentage points down from February 2014. This contrasts with a national unemployment rate of 5.5 percent in February, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous year, DLT stated.
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate had dropped to 6.5 percent in January.
Overall, the state’s labor force totaled 549,600 in February, an increase of 600 compared with January but a decrease of 5,500 compared with the year prior.
The number of unemployed Rhode Island residents dropped between January and February by 1,100 to 34,800 – the lowest level of unemployment since December 2007, and also year over year, by 11,900. A total of 17,453 people collected unemployment insurance benefits in February compared with 19,977 a year ago, accounting for 45.8 percent of the total unemployed, the DLT said.
The number of employed residents also rose to 514,800 in February, an increase of 6,400 from the previous year period.
