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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).
United States Department of Labor
