Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

Are you trying to find work at a shopping mall or store to make extra money for the holidays?

If you're a Rhode Islander looking for a seasonal retail job and are willing to talk about what you're finding -- or not finding -- this season please contact Providence Journal reporter Lynn Arditi at larditi@projo.com or call (401)277-7335. (If you call, please leave a daytime phone number.)

Rhode Islanders who can't find a job in their home state may have better luck in nearby Boston.

The Boston metro area is ranked as having the fourth-highest job growth nationally, tied with Washington, D.C., according to a report released today by the federal Department of Labor Statistics.

In April, jobs in the Boston metro area rose by 24,400 from the same month last year, a one-percent increase, the data shows.

Nationally, job growth was slower at 0.3 percent.

In the Boston area, education and health services in April gained 11,400 jobs compared to April of last year, the highest growth rate of any sector, the agency reported. Education and health services accounted for nearly half of the total job gains recorded in the Boston area. The second largest job growth sector during the period was professional and business services, which added 6,900 jobs.

Rhode Island last month shed another 700 jobs, the fourth consecutive monthly decline, and the state unemployment rate remained unchanged at 6.1 percent, a government jobs report released today shows.

During the first four months of this year, Rhode Island has lost lost 6,300 jobs, and its payroll employment has fallen to its lowest level since June 2003, according to the state Department of Labor and Training.

-- Journal staff writer Lynn Arditi