Rhode Island’s jobless rate jumped to 11.1 percent in April, up from 10.6 percent in March, according to a report issued Friday by the state Department of Labor and Training.
The monthly rise in Rhode Island’s unemployment rate also continued to outpace the increase in the national rate, which grew 0.4 percentage points to 8.9 percent in April. Massachusetts officials yesterday reported that the Bay State’s jobless rate had climbed 0.3 percentage points to 8 percent in April.
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was not the nation’s highest last month, however. Michigan officials said the jobless rate there reached 12.9 percent in April, and in Oregon it hit 12 percent. Not all states had reported their figures at press time.
Along with the rate increase, Rhode Island experienced its 14th consecutive monthly decline in local non-farm payroll employment. The state lost 300 jobs as Ocean State payrolls shrank to 464,700 in April.
The number of unemployed Rhode Islanders increased by 3,000, to 62,600.
Rhode Island’s largest job losses in April were in manufacturing, which lost 400 jobs for the month. The job count for the accommodation and food services sector fell by 300, while financial activities and retail trade each lost 200 jobs. Arts, entertainment and recreation and educational services lost 100 each.
Although the figures showed that the government added 500 jobs in Rhode Island in April, DLT said the increase was due to the temporary hiring of federal workers to prepare for the 2010 Census.
In addition, “other services” picked up 200 jobs, and the job counts for health care and social assistance, construction, and professional and business services increased by 100 each.
The number of jobs in wholesale trade, transportation and utilities, information, and natural resources and mining remained unchanged.
The number of jobs on Rhode Island payrolls in April dropped by 20,100, or 4.3 percent, compared with the same month last year, DLT said.
The Labor department noted in its report that the unemployment rate in Rhode Island continues to be at its highest level since the bureau first began collecting state labor force data in 1976.
The April statistics mark the 15th consecutive month of job losses. According to the labor department, the state has shed 31,700 jobs since its employment peak in January 2007.
The national unemployment rate rose four-tenths of a percent in April, to 8.9 percent. In Massachusetts, the unemployment rate rose from 7.7 percent in March to 8 percent in April.
“It’s certainly not ideal, but it’s consistent with what’s happening nationally,” said Sandra Powell, director of the Department of Labor and Training, which administers unemployment insurance benefits. The average weekly claims for unemployment insurance benefits in the state totaled 41,582 in April. In February, the figure was 40,600.
In a phone interview Thursday, Powell said her department, which had been overwhelmed by the number of unemployment claims, has made progress in keeping up with the increased demand. The number of people waiting for return phone calls, she said, has shrunk from 2,041 in February to 14 on Wednesday. Powell said she believes her department will be able to keep up with the workload indicated by April’s higher unemployment figures.
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