Expanding & Declining Industries

Over the 2006 - 2016 decade, employment in Rhode Island is projected to increase by nearly 48,000 jobs or 9.1 percent, slightly less than the 10.7 percent growth rate experienced during the 1996-2006 decade.

The most recent employment projections have RI employment reaching 573,473 by 2016.  While slower job growth is expected for the 2006-2016 decade compared to the 1996-2006 decade, it is still important to identify better performing industries, since these industries are most likely to add jobs during the years ahead. The largest gains are expected to occur in the Health Care & Social Assistance sector.  A number of factors, including a growing and aging population, along with medical advances and new technologies, will result in an employment increase of some 15,000 jobs. In contrast, continued employment declines are projected for RI’s Manufacturing sector. Despite job losses that are expected to continue to occur in the Manufacturing sector, job growth is projected for Chemical Manufacturing (+860) and Transportation Equipment Manufacturing (+532).

Expanding industry data can be used to segment the labor market, thereby identifying employers that are more likely to be hiring.  This type of market segmentation is expected to facilitate job development because the job seeker or counselor is able to focus his/her job search on the employers that are in the faster growing industries.

Any industry that is projected to grow by at least 12 percent and add a minimum of one hundred jobs during the 2006-2016 projection period or any industry that is projected to add a minimum of 100 jobs annually, regardless of the growth rate, is classified as an “expanding industry.”  

A declining industry is considered to be any industry, with a minimum employment level of 100, that is expected to show negative employment levels, resulting in the loss of fifty jobs or more during the 2006-2016 projection period.

The following tables show Rhode Island’s expanding and declining industries at the three-digit North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) subsector level.  It is recommended that these tables be used in conjunction with the new EmployRI, the netWORKri virtual one-stop system.  Counseling and placement professionals, as well as job seekers and students, can use this information to identify individual employers that may be adding jobs and the types of positions they may be hiring. The declining industries table can be used to identify the types of jobs that are being phased out, indicating the current skills of displaced workers – a potential supply of trained labor. “EmployRI” is available on the Department of Labor and Training website at: https://www.employri.org