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Rhode Island unemployment rate declines 1.7 percentage points, October 2014 to October 2015

November 25, 2015

From October 2014 to October 2015, 25 states and the District of Columbia had statistically significant unemployment rate decreases, the largest of which occurred in Rhode Island (−1.7 percentage points, as the unemployment rate dropped from 7.0 percent to 5.3 percent) and Michigan (−1.6 points, as the unemployment rate went from 6.6 percent to 5.0 percent).

12-month change in unemplyment rate and number of unemployed, selected states, October 2014 to October 2015
State Unemployment rate Number of unemployed
Oct 2014 Oct 2015 Over-the-year
change,
in percentage
point(s)
Oct 2014 Oct 2015 Over-the-year change

California

7.2 5.8 -1.4 1,366,200 1,094,700 -271,500

Colorado

4.4 3.8 -0.6 124,100 105,800 -18,300

Connecticut

6.3 5.1 -1.2 119,700 97,000 -22,700

District of Columbia

7.7 6.6 -1.1 29,600 25,500 -4,100

Florida

5.8 5.1 -0.7 557,500 492,100 -65,400

Georgia

6.8 5.7 -1.1 321,800 269,000 -52,800

Hawaii

4.1 3.3 -0.8 27,600 22,500 -5,100

Idaho

4.6 4.0 -0.6 35,800 32,400 -3,400

Illinois

6.3 5.4 -0.9 411,400 353,400 -58,000

Indiana

5.8 4.4 -1.4 189,500 144,000 -45,500

Iowa

4.3 3.5 -0.8 73,800 60,300 -13,500

Maine

5.6 4.3 -1.3 38,700 29,100 -9,600

Michigan

6.6 5.0 -1.6 313,700 238,100 -75,600

Mississippi

7.3 5.9 -1.4 88,600 75,000 -13,600

New Hampshire

4.1 3.3 -0.8 30,200 24,400 -5,800

New Jersey

6.4 5.4 -1.0 288,500 243,600 -44,900

New Mexico

6.2 6.8 0.6 56,800 62,400 5,600

New York

5.9 4.8 -1.1 562,100 466,100 -96,000

Ohio

5.2 4.4 -0.8 300,200 248,700 -51,500

Oregon

6.8 6.0 -0.8 133,700 117,700 -16,000

Rhode Island

7.0 5.3 -1.7 38,800 29,400 -9,400

South Carolina

6.6 5.6 -1.0 145,700 126,600 -19,100

Tennessee

6.6 5.6 -1.0 197,500 169,600 -27,900

Vermont

4.2 3.7 -0.5 14,500 12,800 -1,700

Virginia

4.9 4.2 -0.7 207,000 177,600 -29,400

Washington

6.3 5.2 -1.1 220,300 183,400 -36,900

Wisconsin

5.3 4.3 -1.0 163,600 131,400 -32,200

Note: Data for the most recent month are preliminary.

In Rhode Island, the number of unemployed declined from 38,800 to 29,400 over the October 2014 to October 2015 period, a decrease of 9,400. In Michigan, there was a decrease of 75,600, as the number of unemployed declined from 313,700 to 238,100.

The largest decrease in the number of unemployed (−271,500) occurred in California, where the number of unemployed went from 1,366,200 to 1,094,700. The unemployment rate declined by 1.4 percentage points, from 7.2 percent to 5.8 percent.

The only significant over-the-year rate increase was in New Mexico (+0.6 percentage point), where the rate went from 6.2 percent to 6.8 percent and the number of unemployed went up from 56,800 to 62,400 (a change of 5,600).

These data are from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program. Data for the most recent month are subject to revision. To learn more, see "Regional and State Employment and Unemployment — October 2015" (HTML) (PDF).

SUGGESTED CITATION

Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, The Economics Daily, Rhode Island unemployment rate declines 1.7 percentage points, October 2014 to October 2015 at https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2015/rhode-island-unemployment-rate-declines-1-point-7-percentage-points-october-2014-to-october-2015.htm (visited October 31, 2024).

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