WHAT: Rhode Island鈥檚 economic performance through March has gone virtually unchanged since August 2025 and the state is still in a recession, according to 溏心vlog免费B站 economist Leonard Lardaro. March鈥檚 Current Conditions Index value, at 42, remains where it has been for seven of the last eight months. It is also the twelfth time in the last 15 months that the CCI has fallen below 50.
March鈥檚 value follows a significant dip in February, which saw the CCI drop from 42 in January to 17. He has no explanation as to why the 鈥渂izarre鈥� data repeated as it had in March 2025鈥攚hich noted a similar significant drop to a CCI index of 25鈥攁nd considers February鈥檚 CCI value of 17 as largely 鈥渘oise.鈥�
Lardaro says that despite some momentum, the positives are still outweighing the negatives, leading to a continuation of contraction CCI values. Only five of the CCI鈥檚 12 economic indicators showed improvement over last year. Plus, resident employment, which is the number of employed Rhode Island residents either in-state or out of state, dropped by 8,200 year over year, a number Lardaro calls 鈥渟hocking.鈥�
Lardaro says Retail Sales, a critical economic indicator that has been a strength through almost the entire post-pandemic period, improved by 4.5%. Total Manufacturing Hour鈥檚 positive momentum continued, growing by 6.9%. Manufacturing Wage went up by 0.1%.
Single-Use Permits, related to new-home construction, rose by 8.3% in March, Lardaro says.
However, the state鈥檚 Labor Force dropped by 1.3%, remaining on a downward trend as it has since May 2025. Employment Service Jobs, a leading labor market indicator, fell by 2.6%, continuing a drop seen for more than a year. U.S. Consumer Sentiment was down in March by 6.6%, Lardaro says.
Private Service-Producing Employment, a proxy for service-sector employment, declined by 0.2%. Benefits Exhaustion, which indicates long-term unemployment, dropped in March by 3.5%, another improvement, Lardaro says.
But, New Claims, which is related to layoffs, increased by 1.2% in March. Government Employment also decreased by 1.5%, failing to improve for 10 straight months, Lardaro says.
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: May 11, 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.