Signs Are Good…if They Hold
December 2009
Vermont’s preliminary November employment statistics, released Friday, were all moving in the right direction: increased labor force, increased employment, and a drop in unemployment. The number of Vermonters employed last month was the highest in the last year. The number of workers in the labor force increased for the first time since July—a sign that discouraged job-seekers may again be looking for work. People who stop looking for work are not counted as either unemployed or in the labor force. A good month—but it’ll be several months before we know whether we’re on the road to economic recovery.
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More Vermonters Rely on Multiple Jobs
Vermont has New England’s highest percentage of workers holding two or more jobs. According to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 9.4 percent of the Vermont labor force held a second job in 2007. This might be one explanation for why Vermont’s unemployment rate is the lowest in New England and below the national average. If a person working two jobs loses one, she is still counted as employed. The data indicate that at the start of the recession a higher percentage of workers had extra jobs in Vermont than in any other state but South Dakota and Nebraska. The report does not reveal whether Vermonters are working extra jobs by choice or necessity.
Long-term Unemployment Grows
A growing percentage of Vermont’s unemployed are long-term unemployed. New quarterly data show the number of Vermonters out of work for 15 weeks or more increased in 2009. That’s not unusual in a recession. But the share of unemployed Vermonters looking for work for 15 weeks or more jumped sharply in the last year. Before the recession, 25 to 30 percent of Vermont’s jobless had been out of work at least 15 weeks. For the period of October 2008 through September 2009, the percentage rose to 43 percent.
For more information on long-term unemployment and the other five measures of unemployment, go to the Vermont Department of Labor website.
