The slight glimmer of good news is Rhode Island will get more than $1 billion from the federal stimulus package President Barack Obama signed last month. The White House estimates that will create or protect 12,000 jobs in the state.
The mind numbing news is that Rhode Island’s unemployment rate rose to 10.3 percent in January, the highest in more than 30 years and far exceeding the national unemployment rate of 7.6 percent, according to figures the state government released Tuesday.
Rhode Island, whose unemployment rate was 9.4 percent in December, fell into a deep recession early and has trailed only Michigan in joblessness. The biggest difference between us and Michigan is that Michigan can point directly to the auto industry’s utter collapse as a defining reason.
Rhode Island’s problems are more varied. A combination of a deep real estate downturn, a new construction stall and our local credit crisis are maily to blame.
The small businesses so crucial to the state’s economy have less cash on hand than big firms to ride out a prolonged downturn and a freeze in the credit markets.
Last year, Rhode Island lost 19,000 jobs.
About 4,100 jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector, 3,600 jobs in retail trade and another 3,400 in professional and business services. The health care and education industries, however, reported gains.
