WPRO Newsroom
For the tenth month in a row, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate has dropped, and this time it's down nearly two percent from April of last year.
The Department of Labor Training announced the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April dropped to 8.8 percent, down from March’s unemployment rate of 9.1 percent. The April 2013 rate is down 1.8 percent from April of last year, and is the lowest unemployment rate the state has seen since October of 2008
The U.S. unemployment rate for April 2013 was 7.5 percent, down from 7.6 percent in March.
The number of unemployed Rhode Islanders, those classified as available for and actively seeking work, dropped to 49,400, down from 51,100 in March. Meanwhile, the number of employed Rhode Islanders was up 1,200 from March.
The DLT also reports the state gained 500 jobs from March to April. Accommodation and food services, as well as manufacturing showed the largest gains, while the construction and retail sectors showed significant losses.
The overall labor force in Rhode Island dropped to 558,200, down 700 from last month and also 700 from last year.
