EVANSTON, Ill. – Manufacturing jobs are disappearing across New England, but Rhode Island’s manufacturing sector is in “considerably worse shape” than those in other nearby states, having lost nearly 2,900 jobs in 12 months, according to Manufacturers’ News Inc. (MNI)

The company – a national compiler and publisher of data for the manufacturing industry – found that the state lost 2,878 manufacturing jobs, or 4.1 percent, between December 2007 and December 2008. The same period saw manufacturing employment fall by 2.9 percent in Massachusetts, 2.3 percent in Vermont and 1.5 percent in both Maine and New Hampshire, MNI found.

“As with the entire nation, Rhode Island’s industrial employment is suffering due to global competition, the weak housing sector and stagnating demand,” said Tom Dubin, president of the publishing company. “Additionally, the state’s concentration in luxury goods manufacturing, such as jewelry, has taken a hit as the demand for these items continues to diminish.”

At year’s end, Rhode Island was home to 2,099 manufacturers employing 68,077 workers, MNI said in a recent report. That was down from the state’s manufacturing employment of 70,955 at the end of 2007 and 74,880 at the end of 2006. (READ MORE)

Fabricated metal manufacturing was Rhode Island’s largest sector by employment, with 7,480 jobs, down 3.3 percent over the year. The jewelry industry accounted for another 6,303 jobs, down 12.5 percent with the closure of The Colibri Group (READ MORE), among others.

About 280 Colibri employees lost their jobs when the East Providence-based maker of jewelry, clocks and cigarette lighters abruptly closed its doors on Jan. 14 as the company was being petitioned into receivership. Court-appointed receiver Allan M. Shine, a business lawyer with Providence-based Winograd, Shine & Zacks PC, Attorneys at Law, is now preparing to sell Colibri’s assets to help pay back more than $28 million in corporate debt and more than $6 million owed to vendors.

Earlier this month, some former Colibri workers organized protests – first at the work site, then at the office of the court-appointed receiver (READ MORE) – charging that the company had violated the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, a dispute that has yet to be resolved. The WARN law requires that any company with at least 100 employees must provide at least 60 days’ notice before closing a plant, although industry experts note that employers may be exempted in some financial emergencies.

One of the few Rhode Island manufacturing sectors to gain employment over the past year, MNI said, was industrial equipment, with 6,168 jobs, an increase of 1.9 percent.

Other sectors losing jobs and the percentage lost include: chemical and allied products, down 16 percent after aerosol manufacturer KIK Custom Products closed its Cumberland plant; textiles and apparel, down 13 percent; furniture and fixtures, down 5 percent; rubber and plastic products,down 3.6 percent; transportation equipment, down 3.4 percent; printing / publishing, down 3.3 percent; primary metals, down 2.3 percent; lumber / wood, 1.6 percent; stone, clay and glass, down 1.4 percent; and food products, down 1.2 percent.

Employment in electronics manufacturing and paper / allied products remained stable over the year, MNI said.

Providence ranks as the state’s top manufacturing city with 9,834 jobs, a drop of 8.5 percent over the year, the publisher said. Pawtucket accounts for 7,680 jobs, down 1 percent. Cranston has 5,812 manufacturing jobs, after a loss of 4.4 percent over the year. Warwick saw manufacturing employment drop 5.8 percent to 5,240 jobs, while North Kingstown remained steady over the year with 5,086 jobs, MNI said.

“It’s not all bad,” said John J. Grady, executive director of the Rhode Island Manufacturers Association (RIMA) in Providence, noting that the United States remains the world’s leader in manufacturing.

“We’re in the same boat as everyone else,” the RIMA chief said, describing the ongoing credit freeze is the core of the problem for local manufacturers in need of capital. “The credit crunch is not over and we’re hoping that the next roll-out [of federal stimulus funds to banks] will help ease the credit market, because that’s where our problems are.”

Manufacturers News Inc., founded in 1912, compiles and publishes profiles of manufacturers, statistics and databases for all 50 states, and also maintains the industrial-information database IndustryNet.com. For more information, including the latest MNI reports, visit www.ManufacturersNews.com.