Jobs & Opportunity Index (47th in JOI): A Little Help from UHIP

Providence, RI – The May edition of the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s  Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI) report brought Rhode Island back up to 47th place in the country, owing to the fact that UHIP has prevented accurate counts of SNAP (foodstamp) enrollment.

Employment, labor force, RI-based jobs, and state and local taxes were all negative factors, with only Medicaid enrollment showing as a positive.

“As the General Assembly does its annual budget ritual without providing taxpayers any relief or changing the way the state does business in the direction of prosperity, the JOI report is a reminder of the consequences,” said the Center’s research director, Justin Katz. “We need more people working, not fewer, and we need the ratio of taxes to income to go down. Only when that happens will we finally begin to be competitive with other states.”