RI Economy Expands 2% in 4th Quarter of 2019, But Growth Rate Lags -- RIPEC Report

RI Economy Expands 2% in 4th Quarter of 2019, But Growth Rate Lags -- RIPEC Report

Rhode Island's economy is growing, but continues to lag the rate growth of the New England and U.S. economies.

The Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council (RIPEC) released the Rhode Island Current Economic Indicator (CEI) for the fourth quarter of 2019.

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RI’s Economy

According to the report, RI’s GDP expanded by an annualized rate of 2% during the quarter and by almost 2.5% for the calendar year.  

“These data points demonstrate that Rhode Island's economy continues to deliver strong performance, essentially expanding at the same rate as the rest of New England and the nation as a whole over the past year. However, Rhode Island has not been able to close the growth gap that has grown and persisted since the Great Recession,” said RIPEC President and CEO Michael DiBiase.

According to the report, GDP growth is projected to increase by 1.9% in the first quarter of 2020.

 

Trailing New England and U.S.

"Despite improved economic conditions and job growth in Rhode Island over the last few years, GDP growth has been slower in Rhode Island than in the New England region and the nation, and the “growth gap” remains wide over time (Figure 2). In addition, Rhode Island’s economic activity and employment in manufacturing continue to decline and construction experienced a significant slowdown in the fourth quarter of 2019," according to the report.

 

Employment Grows

According to the report, total confirm employment grew over the past year by 11,100 jobs to 506,300 jobs in December-the highest number of jobs created in a year since 1999.

The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent in December 2019, compared to an unemployment rate of 4.0 percent in January 2019.

 

Quarterly CEI

The quarterly CEI, developed by economists at The Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University, combines several key gauges of economic activity in a single statistic that measures the overall current economic conditions in Rhode Island.

It is calibrated to grow at the rate of the Real Gross State Product and, therefore, can be interpreted as the underlying growth rate of the state economy.

The CEI is calculated using the most current available data for the state.