Fewer are working as the holidays approach
Both the labor force and the number of jobs shrank in October. Vermont lost 2,100 non-farm payroll jobs last month, and ended up with 550 fewer people in the labor force, which includes the self-employed. October was the third straight month that jobs decreased and the fourth that the labor force contracted.
Weak net gain in jobs
Vermont’s private employers added 22,700 jobs in the 12 months that ended last March. That was better than most years since the recession. During the same period, however, Vermont lost about 22,200 private sector jobs—the most in the last six years. That left Vermont with a net gain of only about 500 private sector jobs. The average annual gain for the previous five years was about 3,200 jobs.
New businesses, fewer positions
For the last two decades, about 1,900 new private business establishments opened in Vermont each year. That number remained fairly constant, even through the recession. But the number of jobs created by those new businesses has dropped. Before the recession, Vermont gained more jobs from startups than it lost to business closures. Since the recession, the state has seen a net loss in jobs.
