The slow road to recovery

Net job change, U.S. and N.E.Every New England state showed a net gain of private-sector jobs in the 15 months that ended March 31, 2015, calculated by subtracting job losses for each quarter with job gains in that period. The percentage displayed takes the net gain and divides it by the total nonfarm employment for the respective quarter. / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Net job change, U.S. and N.E.Every New England state showed a net gain of private-sector jobs in the 15 months that ended March 31, 2015, calculated by subtracting job losses for each quarter with job gains in that period. The percentage displayed takes the net gain and divides it by the total nonfarm employment for the respective quarter. / U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

For quite a while, the drop in Rhode Island’s jobless rate was driven not as much by an improving economy, but rather by fewer people looking for work. The decline in that number shrank the size of the labor force, the denominator in the equation that determines just what that influential economic indicator is.

A recent report from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics shows the state made headway on the job front in 2014 and early 2015. The net job gain – 6,178 in the five months ended March 31, the latest available statistics – represents a 1.3 percent increase in the number of private-sector jobs added over that time period.

That number does not seem impressive, since it is short of the national 2.2 percent gain and the increase of 1.9 percent in Massachusetts. But it is greater than in the rest of New England, all of which had gains of less than 1 percent.

If there is any conclusion to be reached, it is that Rhode Island needs help, but that its baseline is not as poor as it once was. •

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