New England jobless rate 5.2% in March

THE NEW England jobless rate was 5.2 percent in March, 1 percentage point less than it was in March 2014, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
THE NEW England jobless rate was 5.2 percent in March, 1 percentage point less than it was in March 2014, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

PROVIDENCE – The New England jobless rate was 5.2 percent in March, 1 percentage point less than it was in March 2014, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The New England jobless rate was slightly less than the national rate of 5.5 percent in March, which was 1.1 percentage points lower than in March 2014.
In March, all six New England states had jobless rates that were significantly different from the national average – Vermont (3.8 percent), New Hampshire (3.9 percent) and Maine and Massachusetts (4.8 percent each) had significantly lower rates, while Connecticut and Rhode Island had rates measurably higher than the national average at 6.4 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.
Over the year, Rhode Island had the largest unemployment rate change with a drop of 1.9 percentage points, followed by Massachusetts at 1.1 percentage points and Maine, 1 point.
Rhode Island’s labor force decreased year over year to 551,700 from 555,200. During that time, the number of employed grew to 517,100 from 509,400 and the number of unemployed fell to 34,600 from 45,800.

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