Rhode Island has been a business-friendly state for a long time, and business-friendly translates into HR friendly for anybody with the right degree to make a career here. With a top-end human resource manager salary that is literally off the charts by exceeding the maximum level reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and a rock-bottom unemployment rate, demand for HR experts is largely responsible for pushing salaries higher.
As of October 2019, the unemployment rate in Rhode Island was just 3.6 percent, only a quarter of what it was during the height of the 2009 recession. The state is home to five of the rapidly growing companies that made the Inc. 5000 list in 2019, which included such locally recognized powerhouses as IT Support RI, Protocol Networks, and Best Practice Energy.
As these companies continually hire, promote and manage many thousands of employees, they rely on the expertise of skilled hiring managers, training specialists, benefits managers and labor relations specialists among others. As HR management professionals are increasingly being recognized as a major part of strategic business planning, they are being offered compensation and benefits packages that are better than ever.
Salaries for Rhode Island’s HR Managers and Specialists
Just about every job category in human resources in Rhode Island brings in a salary above comparable positions and pay levels elsewhere in the country.
Human resource managers, for instance, are reported to make more than $208,000 annually in the top ten percent of the profession… beyond which the agency simply stops counting! That puts the state at number three in the nation for HR manager salaries.
Although specialists don’t expect to pull in quite the same high levels of pay, they do bring in six figures at the top end of the salary scales.
Salaries for Human Resources Managers in the Providence Area
Providence area HR managers are among the cream of the crop in Rhode Island HR circles, and they consequently command six-figure salaries from the median level on up. Surprisingly, however, even managers outside the metro area make closer to the state median salary.
Human Resources Specialist and Assistant Salaries in Providence-Fall River-Warwick
With high employment levels and high salaries, the Providence area is a great place to search for staff positions in HR departments. Compensation and benefits analysts top out for wages among all staff positions here with $113,480 in the top ten percent, at least $10,000 more per year than the national average.
Salary and employment data compiled by the United States Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics in May of 2018 for human resources managers, specialists, and assistants – https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_ri.htm#11-9111. The BLS salary data shown here represents median – 90th percentile salary ranges for the state and its MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas) and includes workers at all levels of education and experience. This data does not represent starting salaries.
Job growth projections sourced from the Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training and published in the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Long Term Occupational Projections (2016-2026) database – https://projectionscentral.com/Projections/LongTerm. Employment conditions in your area may vary.
All salary and job growth data accessed in October 2019.