April 9, 2026
WHAT: Rhode Island鈥檚 economic performance to start 2026 remained how it was at the conclusion of 2025: the state is still in a recession, according to 溏心vlog免费B站 economist Leonard Lardaro. January鈥檚 Current Conditions Index value, at 42, is eight points below January 2025.
It is the 10th time in the last 13 months that the CCI fell below 50. January was also the sixth consecutive month that the CCI was at 42鈥擠ecember鈥檚 CCI was revised from 33 to 42 based on new data. Also, five of the CCI鈥檚 12 economic indicators showed improvement over last year.
Lardaro says the long-awaited revised labor market data had mixed results for Rhode Island. He says a number of key variables performed better in 2025 than believed. However, rates of change, which define momentum, did not necessarily change the macroeconomic picture, he says. In other words, Lardaro鈥檚 conclusion is that Rhode Island鈥檚 recession is ongoing.
Lardaro says Retail Sales, a critical economic indicator that has been a strength through almost the entire post-pandemic period, improved by 4.8%. Total Manufacturing Hours continued to improve, growing by 9%. Private Service-Producing Employment, a proxy for service-sector employment, rose by 0.7%鈥攊ts first increase in four months.
Benefits Exhaustion, which indicates long-term unemployment, dropped in January by 4.8%, an improvement not seen since July, Lardaro says. Also, New Claims, which is related to layoffs, fell by 1.4% in January.
However, the state鈥檚 Labor Force dropped by 0.6%, failing to improve since May 2025. Employment Service Jobs, a leading labor market indicator, fell by 1.1%, continuing a drop seen for more than a year. U.S. Consumer Sentiment again declined by a double-digit rate, down by 21.7% in January鈥攗nsurprising in light of current events, Lardaro says.
Government Employment also decreased by 3.9%, failing to improve for eight consecutive months, Lardaro says.
Single-Use Permits, related to new-home construction, dropped by 8.6% in January, Lardaro says. Manufacturing Wage went down by 2.3%.
HOW: Use attached information, including summary and charts prepared by Lardaro for news reports. He is available for broadcast and print interviews. Lardaro will be blogging about the new labor data during the coming weeks.
WHEN: April 9, 2026
FOR INFORMATION: Leonard Lardaro, office, 401-874-4128, home, 401-783-9563; James Bessette, 溏心vlog免费B站 Department of Communications and Marketing, 401-874-3520, james.bessette@uri.edu.
BACKGROUND: The Current Conditions Index, created by Lardaro, measures the strength of the present economic climate in Rhode Island by following the behavior of 12 indicators.