Jobs and the Economy

Our economy is strong when Rhode Islanders can get good paying jobs, wages are growing, construction is booming and everyone who works hard has the opportunity to get ahead.

Under Gina’s leadership, Rhode Island has gone from number 49 to number one in the nation for rising wages, there are more people working than at any time in the past 10 years, and our unemployment numbers are on par with the national average (they were some of the highest in the nation when she took office).

Small businesses are the engine of our economy. Gina is committed to supporting Rhode Island businesses — that’s why we’ve made significant investments to help small businesses and local manufacturers.

For the first time in a long time, companies are moving here and expanding here because they want to hire Rhode Islanders. A combination of job training and business incentives has ignited our comeback.

In the last two years, we have recruited or expanded 24 companies that would have gone somewhere else, but today are on track to hire more than 2,000 Rhode Islanders at an average salary of more than $70,000.

New companies means new construction and cranes in the sky. Under Gina’s leadership, Rhode Island has among the fastest annual construction job growth of any state in America.