“It’s still at 4.6 percent, within the what we call the full employment window, between 4 and 5 percent or so. So that’s not something that at this time that we’re concerned with,” said Matthew Weldon, the director of the state’s Department of Labor and Training. “We think that the labor market continues to be strong. It has been strong now for some time.”
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The real estate sector led the way in hiring last month, adding 400 jobs, with the educational services segment improving by 200 roles, along with health care and social assistance also tallying new positions, according to the Labor Department.
On the other side of the equation, the accommodation and food services sector continued to struggle. Businesses in that industry shed 200 jobs in August. The construction industry as well as arts, entertainment and recreation also lost a similar number of positions.
“It’s been a tough summer. I think that the industry didn’t hire as many people as they anticipated hiring,” Weldon told the Globe, referring to the accommodation and food services sector, which reported a drop in jobs in July as well.
One explanation for what may be happening in the sector is fewer people are taking additional jobs in that industry compared to before the pandemic, Weldon said. “Also, there’s competition for and there has been competition for job seekers over the last few years. And so perhaps people are taking employment in other industries.”
Keith Kelly, Citizens Bank Rhode Island president, suggested that the declines in accommodations and food services could be due to seasonal factors.
“I think that just takes into account… the employment base in those sectors. Obviously, we are heavily focused on tourism. So as we get to the end of the summer, you see a lot of those part-time jobs with college students,” he told the Globe. “They’re getting ready to head back to school. We think that’s where you see the the drop there.”
The department also revised the job losses from last month’s figures to a total drop of 2,200 compared the 400 initially reported. Weldon said the revisions were typical of the process that happens during the surveys the department conducts every month.
“The way this is done is standard throughout the country, that there are two surveys done, employer survey and a household survey that we get preliminary data which is released as a preliminary estimate every month. The following month, we have like three weeks of job data available and that jobs data helps us revise the job counts,” he said.
The labor market in Rhode Island is mirroring other New England economies, Citizens Bank’s Kelly said. Labor markets are returning to pre-pandemic states after the upheavals of the last few years, he told the Globe.
“The [labor] market remains pretty healthy and I think we’re returning to more normalized levels on a pre-pandemic level,” Kelly said. “The clients that we talk to, you know, have jobs, open jobs available, and they’re just looking for the right candidates to fill those spots.”
Kelly added that the Federal Reserve opting for a half a percentage point interest rate cut on the back of a weakening labor market and moderating inflation would bolster businesses in Rhode Island.
“I would see probably the labor market kind of reaching equilibrium because [of the] rate cut that’s going to benefit companies that are looking to expand or want to add additional people to their labor force as business picks up,” he told the Globe.
Weldon said that unemployment insurance claims for August were down, averaging a little over 730 compared to about 1,560 the previous month, suggesting few layoffs.
“We’re not seeing as many layoffs as we had seen before or transitions, I would say, within the labor market, which is good for job stability for employers and for job seekers,” he said.
Weldon noted however that over the last year, the number of unemployed Rhode Islanders had gone up, partly due to those workers that had stepped away from the labor market coming back, actively looking for jobs.
“Hiring slowed a little bit. You know, we we had three months of job losses and this month,” he told the Globe. “This month we are reporting a 300-job increase, which is hopefully a sign that things are going to turn and we’re going to start seeing more hiring in the coming months.”
Omar Mohammed can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter (X) @shurufu.
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Publish date : 2024-09-18 13:00:00
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