Three Thousand Rhode Islanders lost their job in the month of December, bringing the state’s unemployment rate to the 10 percent mark for the first time in more than 30 years.
The Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training released the state’s jobless numbers for December Friday morning.
This makes December the twelfth straight month of job losses for Rhode Island. Total job losses during this period have reached 26,600.
How does this compare to the rest of the country? Michigan with 10.6 percent ranks higher than Rhode Island. Nationally, the average unemployment rate is 7.2 percent. This number, incidentally, is up from 6.8 percent in November according to the US Department of Labor.
Our neighbor to the north (MA) fares a little better overall from the national number at 6.9 percent, though the state’s unemployment number is a full percentage point higher than it was in November.
