For jobs, a year of gains, losses, and a final net loss
Vermont’s private employers started 2018 on a roll, adding jobs in five of the first six months. But they lost ground in the second half of the year. Vermont finished 2018 with 257,500 private sector jobs, a decline of 100 for the year. In June Vermont hit an all-time high of 259,800 private-sector jobs. July saw the fifth-largest monthly job loss in the last 28 years.
Women workers
Vermont women have consistently participated in the labor force at higher rates than women in New England and the U.S. as a whole. Labor force participation is the percentage of women age 16 and older who are working or actively looking for work. But after a high of nearly 69 percent in 2009 (still lower than male participation rates in Vermont and the U.S. over the last 30 years), the percentage of Vermont women who are in the workforce has declined.
Unequal households
Households in the northwest corner of Vermont have the highest median incomes—higher than the state’s overall median. This is according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s five-year estimates, released in December. In Vermont as a whole, half of households earn more than $57,808 a year and half earn less. Median household incomes are lowest in the Northeast Kingdom.
