More Rhode Island Jobs Lost

Posted on September 25, 2008

More Rhode Island jobs are being lost, and the state is facing one of its highest unemployment rates ever.

During August, Rhode Island saw an unemployment rate of 8.5 percent, up from 7.8 percent in July and higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.1 percent. This is the state’s highest unemployment rate in 15 years, according to an article by the Associated Press. In August 2007, Rhode Island had an unemployment rate of 5.1 percent.

The number of unemployed people looking for a job increased to 48,800 during August, up 4,300 since July. The state lost 1,200 jobs from July to August, the eighth month in a row the state has lost jobs. It is expected the current crisis on Wall Street will only hinder the state, which has been in a recession for about a year.

“The rising unemployment rate is likely to exacerbate the state’s budget crisis,” the article notes. “Unemployed residents pay less in state incomes taxes, buy fewer goods and drive down state sales tax collections. State lawmakers passed a $6.9 billion budget in June that cut hundreds of millions of dollars in spending to make ends meet. That budget was not balanced, and Rhode Island still faces multimillion-dollar deficits in the coming year.”

A report by the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training showed the worse losses were in the manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance industries. The professional and business services industry lost 300 workers.

According to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, industries in the state that saw an over-the-year job decrease include:

• natural resources and mining by 33.3 percent
• construction by 3.2 percent
• manufacturing by 6.1 percent
• trade, transportation and utilities by 3.4 percent
• financial activities by 4.3 percent
• professional and business services by 3.4 percent
• leisure and hospitality by 1.6 percent
• government by 2.8 percent

The only industries in the state that saw an over-the-year job increase include were information by 3.3 percent and education and health services by .4 percent.