PROVIDENCE - Rhode Island's unemployment rate reached another new high in May.
Sandra Powell, the director of the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training, said the rate jumped to 12.1 percent
The figures released Friday morning from the state show the jobless rate at 12.1 percent, up a full percentage point from April and almost 3 percent higher than the national unemployment rate of 9.4 percent.
The number of employed Rhode Islanders in May reached the lowest level since January 1997.
Related Link: Department of Labor and Training
Interactive: Unemployment By The Numbers
With so many Rhode Islanders out of work, the Department of Labor and Training said it is offering new ways to learn new skills.
Two different computer-assisted training programs are offered at the West Warwick office of the DLT.
Once an unemployed person attends an orientation program and receives the required passwords, he or she can log into a training program for 5,000 different business skills. When the course is completed, the person receives a certificate to show future employers.
Another training program is targeted to people looking for work in the health care field.
"The other piece we have is specific to health care careers -- that can be from patient safety, medical billing. Courses like that are very important in Rhode Island. As you know, health care is the No. 1 employer," said Laura Hart of the DLT.
Currently, the business and health-care training programs are available at the West Warwick office only, but additional DLT offices will have them this summer.
The long wait to reach the Department of Labor and Training call center to get unemployment benefits appears to be over. The Providence Journal reported that phone calls and e-mails are being answered more quickly and that claims are being processed faster.
When the state's unemployment rate first began to rise, there were many complaints about delays getting through to the department.
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