Unemployment rates fall in R.I., U.S.

UNEMPLOYMENT FELL in most metro areas across the country, including Providence / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/JEFF KOWALSKY
UNEMPLOYMENT FELL in most metro areas across the country, including Providence / BLOOMBERG FILE PHOTO/JEFF KOWALSKY

WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates dropped in Providence last month compared to June 2012, the U.S. Department of Labor’s bureau of labor statistics announced Tuesday in its monthly report.
The report showed unemployment decreased in 272 of 372 metropolitan areas nationwide.
The rates rose across the same period in 73 metropolitan areas and remained stagnant in 27 others. Overall, jobless rates surpassed 10 percent in 51 metropolitan areas. The national unemployment rate in June was 7.8 percent.
In the Providence-Fall River-Warwick metropolitan area, the number of unemployed people fell from 71,200 to 60,800, and the percentage of the labor force that was unemployed decreased from 10.2 percent to 8.8 percent. Its overall civilian labor force also shrunk, falling from 697,700 to 694,400.
In Rhode Island, the number of unemployed people fell from 58,000 in June 2012 to 47,800 in June 2013, a 17.6 percent decrease. The unemployed as a percentage of the labor force fell from 10.3 percent to 8.5 percent year to year. But the civilian labor force contracted as well, dropping from 561,300 workers to 559,400.
The number of employees on nonfarm payrolls in Rhode Island increased by 0.4 percent, from 472,200 in June 2012 to 474,000 last month. In the Providence metro area, that number rose 0.8 percent, from 556,000 to 560,600.

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