Labor laggards and leaders

 / Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New England Council, Deloitte
/ Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, New England Council, Deloitte

While correlation does not mean causation, sometimes it’s not coincidence that two things happen.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures on Rhode Island’s labor force reveal that the number of Rhode Islanders who are either working or looking for work fell from February 2014 to February 2015 by 4,100, a decline of 0.7 percent. That compares with a 1.5 percent increase in the size of the labor force for all of New England.

In a separate report that tracked the portion of manufacturing jobs in the region that were “advanced manufacturing” jobs released by the New England Council and Deloitte, Rhode Island had the second-lowest percentage, at 46.1 percent. In fact, the three states that had less than half of their manufacturing jobs classified as “advanced” – those that focus on information, use cutting-edge materials and emerging capabilities enabled by physical and biological sciences – all showed declines in their labor forces. The states where advanced manufacturing made up more than 50 percent of manufacturing jobs all showed overall labor-force growth. •

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