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Jobs & Opportunity Index (47th in JOI) Shows Bottom of Rising Tide

The Bottom of the Rising Tide
Providence, RI – Despite some positive numbers, Rhode Island couldn’t shake its 47th place ranking on the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity‘s Jobs & Opportunity Index (JOI) and even slipped on one of the three subfactors of the index. On the Job Outlook Factor, which gauges Rhode Islanders’ optimism about job opportunities, the Ocean State fell five spots, to 22nd in the country. Overall, eight of the 12 data points of the index changed for this iteration.
 
“JOI takes a much broader look at Rhode Islanders’ experience of the local economy than do narrow metrics like the unemployment rate,” said the Center’s research director, Justin Katz. “When various measures of employment, income, welfare, and taxes are factored in, the Ocean State is gaining ground, but not as much as the rest of the country.”
Among New England states, Rhode Island remained last, far behind second-place New Hampshire.
Additional charts and details of each of JOI’s three sub-factors can be viewed here.