Regional and national coverage of Rhode Island’s Democrat Governor Gina Raimondo has continued to promote her talking points about employment growth.  The Ocean State Current has already put up the warning flag about an apparent downturn in employment, but what about jobs based in the state?

As the following chart shows, going by job counts each December, the gap between Rhode Island’s rate of growth and that of the United States is substantial.  If the Ocean State had tracked with the country, our state would have 23,429 jobs (just under 5% more).

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Since the low point in 2009, the U.S. rate has been 45% faster than Rhode Island’s.  Since Governor Raimondo took office, that job-growth-rate gap has increased to 52%.

Most of that increase comes from the flat year Rhode Island experienced under Raimondo’s first budget.  Meanwhile, policies at the national level corresponded with an inflection point in the national line, with job growth increasing more in 2018 than in 2017.  In the Ocean State, by contrast, job growth slowed.