WHAT: Rhode Island’s Current Conditions Index remained in expansion territory for its tenth consecutive month with a CCI value of 75 for January, says University of Rhode Island economist Leonard Lardaro. According to Lardaro, Rhode Island’s recovery from the pandemic has been more rapid and stronger than initially anticipated, bolstered by re-benchmarked labor data depicting a stronger labor market than previously believed. The CCI saw 9 of 12 economic indicators improve relative to their position a year ago. New Claims (for unemployment), Total Manufacturing Hours and Total Manufacturing Wage were among those indicators showing strong performance. 

While Lardaro notes that rising tax revenues and budget surpluses have been no fluke, he expressed concern over how long it will take the state to return to its pre-pandemic employment levels given structural issues which persist. Moving forward, Lardaro expects a more accurate picture of the state’s momentum as CCI values, which are predicated on year-over-year changes, will begin to have stronger “comps” to compare against.

WHO: URI Professor of Economics Leonard Lardaro, creator and author of the Current Conditions Index. 

WHEN: March 16, 2022. (No embargo)

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. Additional information and historical data available online: http://www.llardaro.com/current.htm.

FOR INFORMATION: Leonard Lardaro, office, 401-874-4128, home, 401-783-9563.

Dawn Bergantino, URI Department of Communications and Marketing, 401-874-4147.

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.