Vermont’s Employment Picks Up as the Jobs Landscape Shifts

Vermont’s annual unemployment rate was the second lowest in New England in 2010. New Hampshire’s was one-tenth of a percentage point lower, but given the margin of error in the data, Vermont may actually have been lowest. Vermont also showed the region’s greatest unemployment rate decline. The state’s average annual rate dropped from 6.9 percent for 2009 to 6.2 percent for 2010. That was a bigger decrease than in Maine or New Hampshire, the only other New England states where unemployment declined in 2010.

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Gains are in the Service Sector
Jobs are returning in Vermont, but they are scarcer in some important sectors than before the recession. Figures released today show that Vermont added 8,300 non-farm jobs (seasonally adjusted) from February 2010 to February 2011. However, there are fewer construction and manufacturing jobs, which typically pay above-average wages, than in late 2007. Meanwhile, various service sectors, which typically pay lower wages, have seen increases to levels higher than before the recession.

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Workers Pound the Pavement Again
Employment data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) continues to indicate that Vermont’s economy is gaining ground. The labor force grew in February for the sixth straight month, suggesting that previously discouraged workers are looking for jobs again. While Vermont’s monthly unemployment rate ticked down, to 5.6 percent, the change was not statistically significant, according to the BLS.

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Download a PDF of the jobs brief.