R.I. jobless rate again highest in New England in December

RHODE ISLAND'S unemployment rate remained highest in New England in December at 6.8 percent, and again was the fifth highest in the nation, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
RHODE ISLAND'S unemployment rate remained highest in New England in December at 6.8 percent, and again was the fifth highest in the nation, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island’s unemployment rate remained highest in New England in December at 6.8 percent, and again was the fifth highest in the nation, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Rhode Island trailed only the District of Columbia, which had a 7.3 percent jobless rate; Mississippi, 7.2 percent; California, 7 percent; and Georgia, 6.9 percent.
And while Rhode Island’s jobless rate is the highest in New England, it has dropped significantly from December 2013 when it was 9.3 percent, the federal agency reported.
That 2.5 percentage point decline meant that Rhode Island, along with Illinois, had the largest jobless rate decreases over the year, the agency said.
In New England, Connecticut’s December jobless rate was 6.4 percent; Massachusetts and Maine both had 5.5 percent; New Hampshire, 4 percent; and Vermont, 4.2 percent.
The national rate was 5.6 percent in December, compared with 6.7 percent a year ago, and 5.8 percent in November.
Rhode Island also experienced an employment gain of 7,700 jobs year-over-year, to 478,900 in December. The Ocean State was among 37 states and the District of Columbia that had statistically significant changes in employment, all of which were positive.
In November, Rhode Island’s jobless rate was 7.1 percent. The drop to 6.8 percent landed Rhode Island on a list of 19 states that had statistically significant over-the-month unemployment rate changes, all of which were declines. Delaware had the largest decrease (-0.6 percentage point), followed by Michigan and North Carolina (-0.4 percentage point each).

North Dakota again had the lowest jobless rate in December at 2.8 percent.

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  1. For a more detailed analysis of the employment/underemployment/ unemployment situation;
    Refer toThe Bureau Of Labor Statistics;
    http://www.bls.gov/lau/stalt.htm …which is updated quarterly…
    as of 10/24/2014, Rhode Island’s Employment/Unemployment Rate
    of measurement at Level U6 is: FOURTEEN POINT FOUR PER CENT (14.4%)
    (The U6 statistic broken down state by state, for the last quarter of 2014,
    (the next measurement cycle) is scheduled to be published on Friday,
    January 30th; So stay tuned….)
    ….as of 01/09/2015, the National Employment/Unemployment Rate of measurement
    at Level U6 is: ELEVEN POINT TWO PERCENT (11.2%)
    (further details at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.t15.htm
    which is updated monthly; Note that is has ONLY gone down by
    TWO TENTHS OF ONE PERCENT since last month’s report)….
    PLEASE NOTE THAT LAST QUARTER OF 2014 U6 RESULTS
    BROKEN DOWN BY STATE DUE TO BE PUBLISHED
    @ TWENTY-FOUR (24) HOURS FROM NOW…
    SO STAY TUNED………