Chittenden County is Pulling the Recovery’s Slow Train

Chittenden County employers provided almost a third of Vermont’s jobs in 2013, with a countywide average annual wage of just over $49,000. That helped to lift the state’s average to a bit above $42,000 a year. In most other counties the annual wage was less than $40,000. The annual wage data, just released by the Vermont Department of Labor, are based on place of employment, not place of residence. The numbers include wages for approximately 300,000 workers covered by unemployment insurance.

Employment: Mostly flat
Annual employment in Chittenden County was higher in 2013 than before the recession. But most counties are still below their 2007 employment levels. Lamoille and Orleans have seen some growth, but employment in the other counties is still down or flat.

Private sector: An upward slog
While Vermont businesses reported 1,200 more seasonally adjusted non-farm jobs in May than in April, that’s still 1,300 fewer than before the start of the recession. The unemployment rate remained at 3.3 percent last month, with little change in the number of Vermonters in the labor force, in jobs, and unemployed.

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