Warehouse jobs in Rhode Island increase

Posted on October 7, 2012

The number of warehouse jobs in Rhode Island has possibly grown, according to recent positive statistics about job growth.

The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that these warehouse jobs are most likely increasing.

In fact, in September, there were job gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+9,000) and in warehousing and storage (+4,000).

Employment rose in health care and in transportation and warehousing. Health care added 44,000 jobs in September. Job gains continued in ambulatory health care services (+30,000) and hospitals (+8,000). Over the past year, employment in health care has risen by 295,000.

Overall, the unemployment rate declined by 0.3 percentage point to 7.8 percent in September. For the first 8 months of the year, the rate held within a narrow range of 8.1 and 8.3 percent. The number of unemployed persons, at 12.1 million, decreased by 456,000 in September.

Payrolls rose by 873,000 in September, following 3 months of little change. The employment-population ratio increased by 0.4 percentage point to 58.7 percent, after edging down in the prior 2 months. The overall trend in the employment-population ratio for this year has been flat. The civilian labor force rose by 418,000 to 155.1 million in September, while the labor force participation rate was little changed at 63.6 percent.

This is great news for the economy – or much better than previous releases.

Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rates for adult men (7.3 percent), adult women (7.0 percent), and whites (7.0 percent) declined over the month. The unemployment rates for teenagers (23.7 percent), blacks (13.4 percent), and Hispanics (9.9 percent) were little changed. The jobless rate for Asians, at 4.8 percent (not seasonally adjusted), fell over the year.

With regards to other industries, employment increased by 17,000 in transportation and warehousing. Within the industry, there were job gains in transit and ground passenger transportation (+9,000) and in warehousing and storage (+4,000). Employment in financial activities edged up in September (+13,000), reflecting modest job growth in credit intermediation (+6,000) and real estate (+7,000). Manufacturing employment edged down in September (-16,000).

On net, manufacturing employment has been unchanged since April.

In September, job losses occurred in computer and electronic products (-6,000) and in printing and related activities (-3,000). Employment in other major industries, including mining and logging, construction, wholesale trade, retail trade, information, professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and government, showed little change over the month.