CRANSTON – Rhode Island’s rising unemployment rate picked up speed last month as it leaped a full percentage point in May to 12.1 percent, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training (DLT) said today in its monthly jobs report.

DLT officials continued to say the unemployment rate has not been this high since before 1976, when the formula used to calculate it was changed.

The state’s jobless rate far outpaced the national rate, which rose half a percentage point to 9.4 percent in May. By comparison, even as Massachusetts added 4,900 jobs the commonwealth’s unemployment rate increased to 8.2 percent in May, up 0.2 percent from April.

But as bad as it was, Rhode Island’s jobs picture was not the nation’s worst last month. Michigan officials said the unemployment rate there reached 14.1 percent in May, up from 12.9 percent in April, and Oregon reported a 12.4 percent jobless rate for May. Not all states had reported their figures at press time.

Last month, local economists had pointed to the change in the number of jobs in Rhode Island as an encouraging economic indicator. The loss of 300 jobs in April was much smaller than in previous months.

But in May the rate of decline grew again, with the state losing 1,100 jobs as payrolls shrank to 463,500. It was the Ocean State’s 15th consecutive monthly decline in local non-farm payroll employment.

Meanwhile, the number of Rhode Islanders on the unemployment rolls – defined as people available for work and searching for a job – rose to 68,500, an increase of 5,800 compared with April and up 26,600 from a year earlier.

And the state’s resident employment – the number of Rhode Islanders who hold jobs anywhere in the country – sank to 497,600 in April, a decrease of 3,100 from the preceding month.

Rhode Island’s largest job losses in May were in government, which shed 500 jobs in Rhode Island. The DLT said the decrease was due to the temporary hiring of federal workers to prepare for the 2010 Census earlier this year. Their work was completed in May.

The job count in professional and business services fell by 300 in May, while “other services” lost 200 jobs. Health care and social assistance; wholesale trade; manufacturing; arts, entertainment and recreation; transportation and utilities; information; educational services; and retail trade lost 100 jobs each.

Meanwhile, the accommodation and food services sector picked up 500 jobs and construction added 300 in May. The number of jobs in financial activities and natural resources and mining remained unchanged.

Losing the largest number of jobs compared with a year ago were manufacturing (down by 4,900), retail trade (down 3,200), professional and business services (down 3,000), construction (down 2,500), government (down 2,000) and financial activities (down 1,200).

Educational services remained unchanged from a year ago. None of the sectors experienced a year-over-year gain.

Manufacturing-production workers in Rhode Island earned an average hourly wage of $13.97 in May, 19 cents more than in April and 4 cents more than a year ago.

The state’s average manufacturing work week in May was 36.7 hours, down 0.9 hours from April and down 0.8 hours from a year ago, DLT said.

Additional information about the Rhode Island labor market is available from the R.I. Department of Labor and Training at RI.gov. To learn more about the services, programs and grant opportunities offered by the department’s Employer Service Unit – or to meet with an employer-service representative – call 1-888-616-JOBS or visit www.dlt.ri.gov/employer.htm.