Jobless rate drops in Providence metro area in September

By PBN Staff
Twitter: @ProvBusNews

WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates were lower in September in 345 of the nation’s 372 metropolitan areas, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area, according to non-seasonally adjusted data from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate dropped to 9.8 percent in the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro, not seasonally adjusted, during September. Year over year, the metro area’s unemployment rate dropped 0.9 percentage points from 10.7 percent in September 2011.

The Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area’s figures were on par with the state of Rhode Island, which also posted a 9.8 percent unemployment rate, not seasonally adjusted, during the month.

(The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Rhode Island, as previously released by the R.I. Department of Labor and Training, was 10.5 percent in September.)

The New Bedford metro area’s jobless rate dropped 0.6 percentage points year over year to 9.8 percent in September, not seasonally adjusted. Massachusetts as a whole saw its unemployment rate drop from 7.3 percent in September 2011 to 6.4 percent in September 2012, not seasonally adjusted.

The national unemployment rate dropped from 8.8 percent in September 2011 to 7.6 percent in September 2012, not seasonally adjusted.

During the month, 267 metropolitan areas reported over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, including the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metro area; 94 metro areas reported decreases, and 11 exhibited no change.