Rhode Island job numbers revised

Posted on June 4, 2013

Looking back and analyzing numbers more carefully after fresh data, the Rhode Island Labor Dept. has released new figures pertaining to December 2011-2012 and Rhode Island jobs.
This is often the case, that figures are revised and refreshed as new data comes in.

In March 2013, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released revised job numbers for RI and all other states based on employment data reported under the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program by all employers through September 2012. Since then, the subsequent monthly job numbers have been estimated based on a sample of employers in each state. The next annual revision will be completed in March 2014. 

The Labor Dept. clarified that they believe these DLT projections, while based on preliminary UI data and several assumptions, are good approximations of what the RI job numbers will look like once the data are officially revised by BLS in March 2014. These estimates, which are the sole responsibility of DLT (not official BLS numbers) put the number of jobs at RI businesses in December 2012 at 466,800, which is 1,200 greater  than the official published figure.

The published monthly job numbers data produced according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics methodology indicate that RI gained 3,200 jobs between December 2011 and December 2012.  However, based on preliminary UI employment data that DLT now has available through December 2012, DLT has produced projected estimates of the expected revisions in its job numbers for the fourth quarter of 2012.  DLT projections indicate that RI actually added some 4,400 (+0.9%) jobs from December 2011 to December 2012.