Local Area Unemployment Statistics
This monthly program provides labor force, resident employment and unemployment estimates, and unemployment rates for state and sub-state areas based on information obtained from a household survey known as the Current Population Survey (CPS). While the national unemployment rate is derived directly from data collected through this survey, sample sizes in each state are too small to provide reliable monthly estimates for the states directly. Therefore, all states including Rhode Island calculate their unemployment rates using statistical models developed by BLS. The models incorporate the number of jobs at businesses and current Unemployment Insurance claims data to refine the individual state estimates provided by the CPS survey.
2020 Benchmark ResultsBureau of Labor Statistics' Local Area Unemployment Statistics program.
United States and Regional Unemployment Statistics
United States - Labor Force Statistics for 1978-present:
New England - Unemployment Rates for 1978-present:
States Ranked by Seasonally Adjusted Unemployment Rates (Excel)
States Annual Average Unemployment Rates (Excel)
Rhode Island Labor Force Statistics
Rhode Island - Labor Force Statistics for 1976-present
Historic State Unemployment Rates
Distribution of the Civilian Noninstitutional Population for Rhode Island Download pdf file from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Rhode Island City, Town, and Sub-State Labor Force Statistics
Monthly labor force, employment, unemployment, and the unemployment rate for the state, cities, towns, counties and areas for current month and the prior 12 months.
Local Area Unemployment Statistics Report
Historic Local Area Unemployment Statistics Report


City and Town Labor Force Statistics - 1990-Present


County Labor Force Statistics - 1990-Present


Other Rhode Island Sub-state Areas Labor Force Statistics - 1990-Present
- Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA - seasonally adjusted (Excel)
- Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA (Excel)
- Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA, Rhode Island Portion (Excel)
- Providence-Warwick, RI-MA NECTA, Massachusetts Portion (Excel)
- Norwich-New London-Westerly, CT-RI NECTA (Excel)
- Norwich-New London-Westerly, CT-RI NECTA, Rhode Island Portion (Excel)
- Norwich-New London-Westerly, CT-RI NECTA, Connecticut Portion (Excel)
- New Shoreham LMA (Excel)
- Providence-Cranston WIA 1998-present (Excel)
- Greater Rhode Island WIA 1998-present (Excel)
Annual Average Labor Force Statistics for Sub-state Areas


Rhode Island Alternate Measures of Labor Underutilization
Labor Surplus Areas for Rhode Island
October 1, 2020 - September 30, 2021
Effective October 1, 2020, the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, released the following list of Labor Surplus Areas (LSA) for the State of Rhode Island:
- New Shoreham
This list will remain in effect until September 30, 2021. Employers located in the labor surplus area may be given preference in bidding on federal procurement contracts. The purpose in providing such preference is to help direct the government’s procurement dollars into areas where people are in the most severe economic need based on their high unemployment rates.
Classification of Labor Surplus Areas
In order to be classified as a labor surplus area, a civil jurisdiction must have had an unemployment rate during the previous two calendar years (January 2018-December 2019) which was at least 20 percent above the national average unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) for the same two year reference period. A floor of 6.0 percent is used during periods of low national unemployment in order for an area to qualify as a labor surplus area. The national average unemployment rate (including Puerto Rico) during the period of January 2018 through December 2019 was 3.38 percent. Twenty percent higher than the national unemployment rate is rounded to 4.6 percent. Since 4.6 is below the floor unemployment rate of 6.00 percent, a civil jurisdiction must have a two-year unemployment rate of 6.00 in order to be classified as a labor surplus area.