By William Hamilton
PBN Staff Writer
CRANSTON – Employment at Rhode Island businesses fell last month by 700 jobs compared with March, the fourth consecutive month of losses, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training said in its monthly report released today.
Despite the decline, the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained unchanged last month at 6.1 percent. The national jobless rate declined 0.1 percent last month to 5 percent.
The DLT said Rhode Island’s job count in April was 484,500 – the lowest since June 2003 – down from March’s revised employment number of 485,200. The state has lost about 6,000 jobs since December, state data show.
Rhode Island’s largest job losses last month were in “other services,” which lost 400 jobs. Government lost 300 jobs and manufacturing lost 200. Also declining were construction, wholesale trade, financial activities, and health care and social assistance, each of which lost 100 jobs.
Partially offsetting those declines was a gain of 300 jobs in the transportation and utilities sector. Also expanding payrolls last month were information, professional and business services, and accommodation and food services sectors. Each added 100 jobs.
Compared with April 2007, the number of jobs on Rhode Island payrolls declined by 8,800, the DLT said. The largest year-over-year losses were in manufacturing (-2,700), professional and business services (-2,000), financial activities (-1,700), construction (-1,000) and retail trade (-1,000). Also losing jobs year-over-year were “other services” (-700), government (-600), arts, entertainment and recreation (-400); wholesale trade (-300) and natural resources and mining (-100).
Educational services saw the largest gain compared with April 2007 (+600). Other year-over-year gains were in health care and social assistance (+500), information (+400), transportation and utilities (+100) and accommodation and food services (+100).
The number of unemployed Rhode Island residents – people who say they are available and looking for work – last month fell to 34,800, a 300-worker decline compared with March.
At the same time, however, the number of residents with jobs anywhere in the country increased by 600 compared with March – in the first monthly increase since September – to 538,300 in April. Compared with April 2007, the number of state residents with jobs dropped 9,100, the DLT said.
Manufacturing production workers in Rhode Island earned an average hourly wage of $13.92 last month, a 1-cent decrease from a month before, but a 28-cent increase from a year ago. Their average work week in April was 38.4 hours, an increase of 0.1 hours compared with March but a decrease of 0.2 hours compared with a year ago.
Additional information about the Rhode Island labor market is available from the R.I. Department of Labor and Training at www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi.
