Metro-area jobless rate improves in August, still above national rate

RHODE ISLAND continues to have the third highest unemployment rate among New England states, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
RHODE ISLAND continues to have the third highest unemployment rate among New England states, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PROVIDENCE – The nonseasonally adjusted jobless rate for the Providence-Fall River-Warwick area dipped one-tenth of a percentage point in August, improving to 7.9 percent from 8 percent a month earlier.
While it is still higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.3 percent, the regional rate is better than it was a year ago when it nearly hit 10 percent.
The region’s labor force grew from 694,400 to 695,700 during the year-over-year period, with the number of jobless decreasing from 68,500 to 55,000, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Wednesday.
The agency showed that jobless rates were lower in August than a year earlier in 322 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 44 and unchanged in six. Data also showed that 202 areas had August unemployment rates below the 6.3 percent national unemployment rate, 155 areas had rates above it and 15 areas had rates equal to that of the nation.
Among the metro areas, Yuma, Ariz., and El Centro, Calif., had the highest unemployment rates in August at 28 percent and 25.1 percent, respectively. Bismarck, N.D., had the lowest unemployment rate with 2.2 percent, followed by Fargo, N.D.-Minn. at 2.4 percent.
Rhode Island’s jobless rate was 7.8 percent in August, two-tenths of a percentage point less than July’s rate of 8 percent, but again remaining the highest of all the New England states.
Vermont had the lowest jobless rate in August at 4 percent. New Hampshire’s rate was 4.3 percent; Maine, 5.2 percent; Massachusetts, 6 percent; and Connecticut, 6.9 percent.

No posts to display