The annual report entitled
"Rhode Island Employment and Wage Analysis" provides a
brief overview of the employment situations in Bristol, Kent,
Newport and Washington Counties, as well as two distinct areas
of Providence County — Northern Rhode Island* and Providence
Metro.**
Key findings for 2010 include:
• Rhode Island lost a mere 819 (-0.2%) private sector jobs between
2009 and 2010. Washington County (+345) was the only county to
report an over-the-year employment gain during this period. One
of the two Providence County areas, the Northern Rhode Island
area, reported a gain of 69 jobs. The remaining counties all
experienced employment losses during this period including, Kent
County (-1,931), the Providence Metro (-627) area, Bristol
County (-239), and Newport County (-59).
• Nearly
60 percent of the 387,005 Rhode Island-based private sector jobs
were located in Providence County, with Providence Metro
accounting for 40.0 percent and Northern Rhode Island accounting
for 19.8 percent of the state’s employment. Kent County
accounted for 16.5 percent of the state’s private sector jobs,
followed by Washington County (10.3%), Newport County (8.0%) and
Bristol County (3.0%).
•
The City of Warwick reported the greatest numeric decrease in
private sector employment between 2009 and 2010 with 1,537
(-3.5%) lost jobs reported. Lincoln (-666) and Cranston (-369)
also reported large numeric employment losses during this
period.
•
In all, twenty-one of thirty-nine Rhode Island cities and towns
reported negative job growth between 2009 and 2010, with the
largest percentage loss occurring in Foster (-9.0%), Little
Compton (-5.9%) and Lincoln (-5.4%).
• The
statewide average annual wage in the private sector increased
2.9 percent, or $1,210, from the $41,320 earned in 2009 to the
$42,530 earned in 2010.
• Between
2009 and 2010, private sector wages in Kent County experienced
an annual wage increase of 3.6 percent, the largest increase
among all Rhode Island counties. The annual wage increase in
Washington County and Providence County was 3.0 percent,
followed by an increase of 0.9 percent in Bristol County and 0.2
percent in Newport County.
*Northern Rhode Island
includes: Burrillville, Central Falls, Cumberland, Glocester,
Lincoln, North Smithfield, Pawtucket, Smithfield and Woonsocket.
**Providence Metro includes: Cranston, East Providence, Foster,
Johnston, North Providence, Providence and Scituate.
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