11.2 Percent Unemployment: Is There Any Hope For RI?
Friday, May 18, 2012
Rhode Island’s unemployment rate has risen to 11.2 percent and it has little hope of dropping below ten percent in the next two years, says Dr. Edward Mazze, Distinguished University Professor of Business Administration at the University of Rhode Island.
According to the latest jobs report issued by the Department of Labor and Training, the 11.2 percent jobless rate for April is more than three points higher than the national average and the exact same as it was last April. Just 494,100 Rhode Islanders are employed, the fewest amount since September 1996.
Mazze said nothing points to the unemployment shrinking significantly until the state begins supporting sectors where job creation is possible.
“I do not expect the unemployment rate to drop below ten percent until the first quarter of 2014,” Mazze said. “The state needs to support the employment sectors where job creation is possible such as health and education, marine industries, distribution, hospitality and financial services. From 2007 to the present, most of the state's economic initiatives did little to create jobs, attract new companies or retain existing businesses.”
Mazze said the major emphasis must be on the growth of small businesses, which can create jobs immediately. He criticized leadership in the state for not creating a business friendly environment and for not knowing how to support those who want to create jobs.
“Many of the state's current economic development programs including financing have little credibility or interest among business people because they were designed by government officials with little or no business experience,” Mazze said. “The state needs to provide a predictable environment in which to do business. We need to get rid of burdensome and out-of-date regulations, stop trying to change the new tax rates and provide incentives to Rhode Island businesses.”
The rising unemployment figures come in the same week that a video game company that received a $75 million loan guarantee from the state defaulted on a $1.125 million payment due to the Economic Development Corporation (EDC) and then missed payroll.
38 Studios, which was founded by former Red Sox star Curt Schilling, pledged to bring 450 jobs to the Ocean State when it received the loan guarantee in 2010. Now the company is seeking bridge financing simply to remain solvent.
The deteriorating situation at Schilling’s company led EDC executive director Keith Stokes to resign Wednesday evening.
Mazze said policy makers are largely to blame for the state’s dismal employment numbers.
“We also need to make sure we are providing the workforce with the skills needed for the jobs available,” he said. “Government policy-makers do not listen to what the business community wants but listens to what others think the business community needs - and that is why our unemployment rate is as high as it is.”
Dan McGowan can be reached at dmcgowan@golocalprov.com
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Comments:
anthony sionni
9:21am on Friday, May 18, 2012
The general assembly is to busy,with debating laws about dogs on your lap lol.
Mike Govern
9:25am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Vote these clowns...all of them....out.
Charles Drago
9:25am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Don't worry. David Cicilline promised that, if elected to Congress, he would create jobs.
Hmmm ... David Cicilline campaigning on lie after lie after lie ...
What were the chances?
Do not believe a single word that comes out of David Cicilline's mouth.
David Beagle
9:28am on Friday, May 18, 2012
Still don't hear much about layoffs or job losses at the state or municipal levels, where the unemployment rate hovers at about the same rate as a one year CD at the local bank.
Bob Brown
12:23pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
Drop the welfare from 48 months and you will see the unemplyment rate drop. If 10% of the people are never looking for jobs then the rate is actually only 1.2% unemplyment for job seekers. Stop making this a free state for money give-aways. Word travels far, and thats what the freeloaders look for.
Todd B
12:36pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
What RI needs to do is to attract a video gaming company to the state.
Scott Dickerson
3:57pm on Friday, May 18, 2012
The definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. So why do the citizens of RI continue to elect the same clowns every election? It is time to clean house. Stop voting for the idiot who got your cousins friend a license plate. Stop voting for the clown who gave you a pair of tickets to a play. Have you figured out that the small favor you have gained is being taken back ten-fold? The Democrats are worse than anyone knows. They have their hands in everything.
pearl fanch
8:12am on Saturday, May 19, 2012
NO. The answer to the headline is NO. Don't ask again tomorrow, it will still be NO.
Don't re-write this article in a week from now, because the answer will still be NO.
Don't put a spin on the question, because the answer will be NO.
RI is absolutely HOPELESS. That means, without HOPE.
Is that understood by everyone out there? HOPELESS. That is a disgrace. Thank you "lack" of leadership.
pearl fanch
6:19pm on Saturday, May 19, 2012
Rhode Islanders, what this means is that YOUR governor Chaffee is not working for you.
YOUR senator Reed is not working for you.
YOUR senator Whitehouse is not working for you.
YOUR representative Langevin is not working for you.
YOUR representative Cicilline is not working for you.
WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT, IN NOVEMBER???????????????????????
Mike Hamel
1:02pm on Tuesday, May 22, 2012
No, it will take a very long time to improve. We can't keep the businesses we have. Why? They can't get any help from the state, but watch debacles like Studio 38 happen. That money should have gone to existing businesses NOT something as risky as Studio 38.
Is the business environment, throughout the USA, Rhode Island is a joke. We have the same people who caused this mess trying to solve it. We recycle politicians and keep getting the same result.
We have the most apathetic voters, in the country, so nothing will change until " WE THE PEOPLE", take back our government. We won't change until we learn the situation, we are in, is nothing to crack jokes about.
Last, we have no one to blame but ourselves. We have allowed the creation, of a ruling party, that has no need, nor desire to be accountable AND we stand for it.
We struggle, each and every day to make ends meets and are forced, many times unwillingly, to have to live within our means.
We must ALL learn this lesson and learn it quickly, because if we don't we will ALL sink under the oncoming financial crush that will ruin us all.