JobsStat

Since June of 2007, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate has been steadily rising. During the month of April the percentage of the population that was without work rose 0.5 percent from March’s 10.6 percent to 11.1 percent. This particularly significant considering the fact that one year ago, in April of 2008, only 7.1 percent of residents didn’t have jobs in Rhode Island, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

While the state’s overall unemployment rate has been climbing for some time now, the joblessness level in Providence remained steady in April. According to the Bureau 11.4 percent of the metro area’s population is without work. A year ago, only 6.3 percent of Providence residents didn’t have jobs.

Over the course of the last 12 months, the Providence metro area has seen a 4.4 percent decline in jobs. Currently there are 548,500 jobs in the city and surrounding area, but the civilian workforce consists of 616,500 people. This means that competition for the existing available jobs is high.

During the last year all of the industries monitored by the Bureau of Labor Statistics have seen a loss of jobs, except for mining and logging, which remained flat.

The largest decline experienced in the state occurred in the construction sector, where there has been a 13.9 percent loss. Across the country this sector has been struggling due to falling demand for new housing projects. Since fewer people can afford to purchase homes at this time, it makes sense that the need for construction workers has been severely affected.

The manufacturing sector also posted a decline in jobs larger than 10 percent during the last 12 months. According to the Bureau, there are now 10.1 percent fewer positions in this industry than there was in April of 2008.

Providence job market will likely continue to be strained for the remainder of this year. Many experts don’t believe that recession will actually end until sometime next year. Even after these economic conditions begin to stabilize, it will likely take a year to two years before the area recovers.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 14th, 2009 at 12:44 pm and is filed under Job Search. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.