Rhode Island unemployment ticks up to 7.3%

CRANSTON, R.I. (AP) – Rhode Island’s unemployment rate ticked up to 7.3% and the state lost 500 jobs in November, state labor officials say. That’s up by two-tenths of a percent from October’s revised 7.1% jobless rate, and much higher than the state’s 3.5% rate in November 2019.

The number of unemployed Rhode Island residents classified as available for and seeking work was 39,200, an increase of 600 from October.

Through November, Rhode Island has now recovered about 58% of the more than 98,000 lost earlier this year when the economy slowed because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The national unemployment rate for November was 6.7%.