McKee Job Claims Face Scrutiny in Rhode Island Gubernatorial Primary

Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee has been boasting about creating 37,000 jobs under his administration. However, his Democratic primary challenger Helena Buonanno Foulkes claims this number is exaggerated and most of those jobs were recovered from the pandemic.

A fact-check using federal labor market information reveals that Foulkes is partially correct. As of June 2026, Rhode Island's seasonally adjusted nonfarm payroll stood at 514,200, which is 39,700 more jobs than when McKee took office in March 2021. However, this number doesn't take into account the significant job losses during the pandemic.

Rhode Island was one of the first New England states to regain its pre-COVID jobs level, reaching a record 517,800 jobs in May 2025. However, after that, the state began to see employers pull back due to economic uncertainty. Currently, the state's job count stands at 0.06% higher than in January 2020.

Economics professor Edi Tebaldi from Bryant University suggests that the best way to measure Rhode Island's record is its performance relative to neighboring states and the rest of the country. According to this metric, Rhode Island surpassed Massachusetts in jobs growth but lost a greater share of its jobs than any other New England state in the last year.