According to the most recent unemployment statistics, finding jobs in Rhode Island was more difficult for may in September than it had been in previous months. The percentage of the population without work rose to 8.8 percent last month, which is the highest its been since 1992.

Experts have said that Rhode Island entered into a recession over a year ago. Wall Street’s most recent struggle has only made the problem worse, meaning that jobs in Rhode Island are harder to come by those in many states.

Economist Edward Mazze said that the area’s suffering housing market has only added to the problem. He believes that it is unlikely that the state will recover until late 2009 or early 2010.

“We were definitely first into the recession, and right now it looks like we could be the last out of the recession,” said Mazze, who used to be the dean of the College of Business Administration at University of Rhode Island.

In August the state’s unemployment rate stood at 8.6 percent, while the national average was 6.1 percent. Approximately 1,300 jobs in Rhode Island were lost between August and September, according to the state’s Department of Labor and Training. Augusts’ Rhode Island unemployment rate was the second worst in the nation. In September the state’s jobless rate surpassed Michigan’s 8.7 percent unemployment to become the worst in the country.

Currently the number of residents who are not are working is around 50,200, a figure which the state began tracking in 1976.

During the same period last year Rhode Island lost 12,600 jobs. Of these positions, 3,300 were in the manufacturing sector, 1,900 in retail, 1,400 in the financial industry and 1,300 in the government sector.

Labels: Jobs in Rhode Island, Rhode Island jobs