Ocean State Today

Rhode Island's unemployment rate hit 6% among residents aged 16 and 65 years old in 2021. That's 35,428 people out of the 1,091,949 living in Rhode Island at the time, according to data U.S. Census Bureau data obtained on Oct. 26, 2023.

The unemployment rate in Rhode Island has increased compared to the 5.5% registered in 2020.

The percentage of people unemployed in Rhode Island was greater than the national unemployment rate of 5.5%.

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee | governor.ri.gov/about

Of the 557,038 people who had a job during that time, 4,331 were employed in the Armed Forces and 552,707 belonged to the civilian labor force.

Employment status	Number of people	Percentage of population
Unemployed	35,428	6%
Employed	557,038	94%
Employed in civilian labor force	552,707	93.3%
Employed in armed forces	4,331	0.7%