New England still third-lowest jobless rate at 5.8% in July

NEW ENGLAND continues to have a jobless rate lower than the nation as a whole, despite Rhode Island having the third-highest unemployment rate in the United States. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
NEW ENGLAND continues to have a jobless rate lower than the nation as a whole, despite Rhode Island having the third-highest unemployment rate in the United States. / COURTESY U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

WASHINGTON – New England retained its status as the census division with the third-lowest unemployment rate in the nation in July, at 5.8 percent, according to seasonally adjusted figures released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Wednesday.
The July rate reflected a 1.4 percent decline from July 2013, although it did mark a 0.1 percent increase from the June 2014 jobless rate of 5.7 percent. The West North Central region (which includes Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota) had the lowest unemployment rate among the nine divisions, at 4.9 percent, while the highest rate was registered in the East South Central (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee) at 7.3 percent.
Rhode Island, at 7.7 percent, was one of four New England states that posted jobless rates that were significantly different than the national rate of 6.2 percent in July. The others were Vermont (3.7 percent), New Hampshire (4.4 percent) and Maine (5.5 percent). Massachusetts, at 5.6 percent, and Connecticut, at 6.6 percent, were not judged by the BLS to be significantly different than the national rate.
The Midwest, which includes the East and West North Central divisions, was the census region with the lowest unemployment rate in July, at 5.9 percent. The Northeast (New England and the Middle Atlantic) had a 6.1 percent rate, as did the South (South Atlantic, East and West South Central). The West, comprised of the Mountain and Pacific divisions, had a jobless rate of 6.6 percent in July.

No posts to display