2015 gains were nothing to write home about
Vermont lost about 300 non-farm payroll jobs in February. But despite earlier losses in the leisure and hospitality sector due to the snowless winter, jobs overall last month numbered 5,000 more than in the previous February. Since the start of the recession in 2007 Vermont has seen an increase in service sector jobs and a decline in production jobs.
Smaller labor forces
In every New England state but Massachusetts, the labor force—those employed or actively looking for work—has shrunk since the end of the recession. Vermont’s labor force has seen the largest proportional drop, with 15,000 fewer Vermonters participating than in 2009. In all six New England states, the labor force participation rate declined from 2009 to 2015, which means a smaller share of working-age people are in the labor force.
Slowing income growth
Vermonters’ total personal income grew in 2015, but more slowly than in recent years. Since the end of the recession in 2009, Vermont personal income growth has averaged 3.4 percent a year. Last year it grew 3.0 percent. Personal income is a common measure of state economic growth. It includes most types of income, such as salary and wages, employer retirement contributions, Social Security, and unemployment benefits. It does not include capital gains.
