Anyone looking for a Rhode Island career is probably struggling as the state faces one of the nation’s highest unemployment rates. However, Rhode Island is hoping its maritime industry will soon make a comeback and create several new jobs.

During December 2008, Rhode Island had a total non-farm employment of 468,800 workers, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 471,800 workers during November 2008 and a 4.5 percent decrease from last year.

The state had an unemployment rate of 10 percent during December, up from 9.3 percent during November and higher than the national unemployment rate of 7.2 percent.

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Many new Rhode Island construction jobs and other permanent jobs will be created when Deepwater Wind builds an offshore wind farm near Rhode Island.

Gov. Donald Carcieri recently announced that Rhode Island expects Deepwater Wind to begin construction on the offshore wind farm in 2010. The wind farm should generate about 1.3 million megawatt-hours each year, or about 15 percent of the state’s electricity use, according to an article by the National Examiner.

As part of its agreement with the state, Deepwater also plans to establish a regional development office and build a facility in Quonset, both of which will create about 800 jobs in Rhode Island with wages of $60 million per year. The wind farm also will help the state reach its 20-percent renewable energy goal.

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Some pharmacy jobs in Rhode Island will soon be eliminated.

GeoPharma Inc., a biopharmaceutical company, recently announced that it plans to cut jobs, consolidate distribution operations and lower SG&A. The company is hoping these moves will help restructuring efforts and improve financial performance, according to an article by RTTNews.

Aside from GeoPharma closing a facility in Rhode Island, the company also has already closed a warehouse facility located in Texas.

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Those with healthcare jobs in Rhode Island recently received some good news.

The Rhode Island Department of Health has released The Health of Rhode Island’s Hospitals (2007), which details the financial performance of the state’s 13 hospitals from 2004 to 2007. It also evaluated the state’s hospitals compaed to others in the Northeast and a group of the best hospitals throughout the country.

The report showed that in 2007, local hospital performance improved. Overall profitability increased from 2.1 percent to 3.4 percent, with 8 out of 13 hospitals increasing their profit margins. Growth in net worths also increased from 9 percent in 2006 to 14.7 percent in 2007. Individual capital structure and liquid assets also improved.

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