New England jobless rate second-lowest

By PBN Staff

PROVIDENCE – New England’s unemployment rate was 7.6 percent in October, the second lowest out of the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics’ nine geographic divisions.

New England’s jobless rate was beat only by the West North Central division, which registered 6.6 percent.

By contrast, the highest jobless rate was in the Pacific, at 10.9 percent.

In October, Rhode Island posted a seasonally adjusted rate of 10.4 percent – earning a place among the 10 states and the District of Columbia with rates “significantly higher” than the national average of 9 percent. (In November, the nation recorded an unemployment rate of 8.6 percent.)

Four states regionally had “lower-than average” unemployment rates in October: Vermont, 5.6 percent, Maine and Massachusetts, 7.3 percent, and New Hampshire, which reported the fourth-lowest jobless rate nationwide, 5.3 percent.