PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — Rhode Island’s economy is growing as it emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, but the state still trails the region and nation, according to a new report.
Rhode Island’s gross domestic product is projected to have grown by 3.5% in the first quarter, but that trails New England, with projected growth of 5.2%, and the nation at 6.4%, according to a report published Tuesday by the Center for Global and Regional Economic Studies at Bryant University and the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, The Providence Journal reported.
Rhode Island’s “growth gap” existed before the coronavirus pandemic but only widened over the past year, the report said.
Rhode Island regained some jobs but hasn’t made up for losses suffered at the start of the pandemic, according to the report.
“We’ve come a long way from our economic freefall last spring,” RIPEC President and CEO Michael DiBiase said in a release, “but the briefing reveals stubborn structural weaknesses that are slowing our recovery and make the Ocean State more vulnerable in the future.”
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