Rhode Island job Decline No Longer No. 1

[Cheezhead]

Unemployment has continued to rise in Rhode Island without end for over six months now. During September and October of last year the state led the nation in joblessness, which means that finding jobs in Rhode Island has been difficult for sometime now. Despite the fact that the unemployment rate continued to rise in February, some are rejoicing in the fact that the state is no longer to worst place to look for work in the nation.

According to a recently released report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, four states now have higher unemployment rates than Rhode Island. The newest data shows that Michigan has the worst joblessness in the country, with 12 percent of the population unemployed during the month of February.

Michigan was followed by South Carolina, where joblessness reached 11 percent. Oregon came in third with an unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. North Carolina, where 10.7 percent of the population is without work, rounded out the top four.

Currently Rhode Island, which has an unemployment rate of 10.5 percent, is tied for the fifth place slot with California. During the same month, the national jobless rate was 8.1 percent.

Both Rhode Island and Michigan have been areas of struggle for job seekers in recent months, which shows that the recession has hit these states harder than others. During last September, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that Rhode Island had the worst unemployment in the country, with a jobless rate of 8.8 percent. Michigan wasn’t far behind with an unemployment rate of 8.1 percent.

Although the newest data didn’t report a drop in the unemployment rate in state, Rhode Island jobs aren’t disappearing as quickly as they were during the previous month. Between December and January, joblessness in the small state rose 0.9 percent, going from 9.4 percent to 10.3 percent. February’s figures, however, reported an increase in unemployment of only 0.2 percent to 10.5 percent.

Experts have different opinions about what all of this means for Rhode Island. Some believe that the slowing rise in unemployment could be because the state is going to see its rate of job decline lessen. Others say that this only shows that the rest of the country is catching up to Rhode Island’s job market woes.

The state was one of the first to see the effects of the national economic recession, with its real estate market collapsing before problems were visible elsewhere. This caused issues with the credit and financial industries, a rise in foreclosures and the beginning of reduced consumer spending.

Although many areas are having trouble attracting new jobs, Rhode Island has seen their struggle worsen due to a lack of government incentive packages. Taxes are fairly high in the area for employers, which means fewer companies have decided to set up shop there.