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Unemployment falls—but so does employment

Vermont’s unemployment rate hit an 18-year low of 2.7 percent last month—matching the rate recorded in May of 2000 and just a tick above the all-time low of 2.6 percent, reached in March of that year. Despite the decline in joblessness, however, Vermont has not seen a corresponding increase in the number of Vermonters employed, which fell for the fifth month in a row in November.

 

 

 

 

Comparing counties
Chittenden County made up 38 percent of Vermont’s economy in 2015. That may not surprise most Vermonters, but now it’s official. This month the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis published its first analysis of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)—the total of all goods and services produced—by county. Vermont’s GDP was $30.7 billion in 2015. Of that, Chittenden County produced $11.5 billion. At the other extreme, Grand Isle County’s GDP was $159 million, and Essex County’s, $105 million. The fastest-growing county in 2015 was Lamoille, where GDP rose 9.3 percent, after adjusting for inflation.

 

More services
Service-providing industries made up 71 percent of Vermont’s economic activity in 2017. This is a slight increase from 2016 and reflects a 20-year trend in which services account for more and more of overall GDP. Meanwhile, goods-producing industries and government continue to comprise smaller shares of the economy, growing at much slower rates than service-providing industries.

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