Government

Rhode Island rated 9th best economy in the United States

This is a big deal and good news for Governor Gina Raimondo, who is struggling in the polls: The Business Insider ranked of Rhode Island as the 9th best economy in the United States. The ranking of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. relied upon six factors: unemployment rate, job growth, per-capita GDP, GDP growth, average weekly wages, and wage growth.

Rhode Island News: Rhode Island rated 9th best economy in the United States

March 15, 2018, 11:36 am

By Steve Ahlquist

This is a big deal and good news for Governor Gina Raimondo, who is struggling in the polls:

The Business Insider ranked of Rhode Island as the 9th best economy in the United States. The ranking of all 50 states and Washington, D.C. relied upon six factors: unemployment rate, job growth, per-capita GDP, GDP growth, average weekly wages, and wage growth.

In a statement, Raimondo said,

“Four years ago, Rhode Island had the highest unemployment rate in America, and we were struggling to bounce back from the recession. We needed to rethink our approach to economic development, and that’s exactly what we did. We’ve invested in job training and education. We’ve opened our doors to new businesses and put cranes in the air. And we’ve slashed our unemployment rate by one-third. Today we have more jobs than at nearly any other time in our state’s history, and we’re still on the move. Our approach is working, and we need to keep going until every Rhode Islander feels included in our recovery.”

Business Insider’s 2016 ranking of state economies put Rhode Island at number 33. Information on the publication’s methodology can be found here.

Of course, no matter what a business magazine might publish, the ultimate question is how voter’s feel about the economy, since economic metrics don’t necessarily correlate with economic satisfaction.

And business rankings are notorious for being poor indicators of economic succcess.