I’m adding this recurring post in order to track the unusual imbalance I noted earlier this month that exists between the unemployment rate of Rhode Island and that of Massachusetts.As I had noted in my prior post, historically it has been very unusual for there to be more than a 1.5% difference between the two states unemployment rates.
This indicates that either Rhode Island’s current rate would need to fall dramatically or the Massachusetts rate would need to increase sharply…. My sense is that Mass will be the one playing catch-up.
Today’s state and regional unemployment report shows that, in August, the Rhode Island unemployment rate jumped dramatically to 8.5% while the Massachusetts rate increased to 5.3%.
Although Massachusetts experienced the largest year-over-year gain since the recessionary environment that followed the tech-led dot-com bust, the spread between Rhode Island and Mass has opened even wider, to 3.2%, further indicating that Mass may be poised for explosive unemployment growth over the next several months.
