Jobless rate below 12% as RI firms hire

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - Rhode Island's jobless rate was 11.9 percent in July, down from 12 percent in June and 12.7 percent at the start of the year, the R.I. Department of Labor and Training (DLT) said Friday.

July was the first time in nearly a year Rhode Island’s jobless rate was less than 12 percent. The rates were unchanged in Massachusetts, at 9 percent, and nationally, at 9.5 percent.

• Related: Where did Rhode Island’s missing workers go? (WPRI Blog)

Private companies in Rhode Island added jobs for the third month in a row in July, increasing private-sector employment by 1,500. That was led by growth in the hospitality industry, which has added 1,200 jobs so far this year, mostly at restaurants. Retailers hired workers for the first time since last spring’s floods.

The uptick in private hiring was partly offset by a loss of 900 government jobs, many of them temporary employees hired for the 2010 Census.

‘Some positive signs’

Altogether, the total number of jobs in Rhode Island increased by 600 in July, to 451,800. The state has added 3,200 jobs over the past three months. But employment remains 9 percent below its peak of 496,500 three and a half years ago.

“Are we seeing some positive signs? Yes,” said Laura Hart, a spokeswoman for the DLT. “The reality is we still have double-digit unemployment. The good news is we’re seeing some positive signs in some industries and in private-sector job growth.”

Massachusetts gained 19,200 private-sector jobs in July, the largest one-month increase in two decades, the Bay State’s government said.

On a less positive note, the number of Rhode Islanders with jobs anywhere in the country fell for a second month, decreasing 1,300 to 505,500 in July. And the state’s labor force lost another 2,300 workers in July, a large decrease that DLT said it was unclear how to explain.