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.