RI unemployment rate falls to 12.4%

Rhode Island added 21,000 jobs in June and the unemployment rate fell to 12.4% as businesses reopened from coronavirus shutdowns, the state Department of Labor and Training said Thursday.

Rhode Island lost 98,100 jobs after the COVID-19 crisis struck in March, and in the three months since the state has regained 33,300 of them, just over one-third.

The state unemployment rate spiked to 18% in April and has fallen steadily since.

Despite the decline in June, Rhode Island’s jobless rate remained higher than at any point after the Great Recession, when the unemployment rate peaked at 11.3% in 2010.

A year ago, Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was 3.6%.

Rhode Island’s jobless rate continues to exceed the national average, which fell to 11.1% in June. The state was tied with Alaska for the 11th-highest unemployment rate in June.

There were 549,800 people in the Rhode Island labor force in June, up 27,300 people from May, but still below the 558,500 people in the workforce in February.

There were 68,400 unemployed Rhode Island residents in June, 17,400 fewer than in May, but still nearly 49,600 more than in February.

The hardest hit sectors of the economy posted the largest job gains in June, with hospitality adding 8,400 jobs, health care 4,600, retail trade 3,900 and arts and entertainment 1,400.

On the other hand, government employment dropped by 3,200 jobs.

Meanwhile, the Massachusetts unemployment rate rose to 17.4% in June, the highest in the country, even though the state added almost 84,000 jobs as it emerged from the coronavirus economic shutdown, state labor officials announced Friday.

The June job gains in Massachusetts follow the addition of about 55,000 jobs in May, which had a revised unemployment rate of 16.6%, the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development said.

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