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Public Assets Institute On average, 3.3 percent of Vermont’s labor force was officially unemployed in 2016. The average annual rate has dropped below this level only three times in the last 40 years: to 3.0 percent in 1988 and 1999 and 2.8 percent in 2000. Last month Vermont’s jobless rate fell to 3.0 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Army National Guard (VTARNG) is seeking out caterers available in the Northern Vermont area that are willing to provide catering services for training sessions that last between two and four weeks. Generally, VTARNG has between 75 to 125 students that require 3 meals a day during each session. Typically the VTARNG has 9 or 10 sessions a year.

Vendors providing catering service to the VTARNG need to be able to provide all food, equipment, and staff to setup and run a cafeteria style dining operation. The VTARNG will provide the space for vendors to set up their feeding operations.

All interested vendors will have to be registered in the governments System for Award Management (www.sam.gov) and accept electronic funds transfers (ETF) using Wide Area Work Flow (WAWF) e-business suite (https://wawf.eb.mil).

Vermont Business Magazine There are many clear and compelling lessons to be drawn from the ashes of this sad and botched episode. I hope Republican leaders will set aside the Hastert Rule – under which all legislation is only passed with Republican votes – and actually let all of the people’s elected representatives take part in forging actual solutions for improving health care and the ability of all Americans to have solid, practical, good-quality and affordable health insurance.

Vermont Business Magazine Officials from the Vermont Department of Labor (VDOL) continue to work closely with America’s Joblink Alliance (AJLA) – a provider of the nationwide web-based database Joblink – to identify individuals in Vermont who may have been breached as a result of a cyber-attack on the vendor’s Joblink system, announced by VDOL on Tuesday. The FBI is also investigating. It is now known that this breach may have compromised as many as 182,000 accounts in Vermont – and 4.8 million accounts collectively across 10 states – exposing personal information, which potentially includes name, address, date of birth and social security number. The quantity and identity of individual Vermonters who may have been impacted is still being determined.

Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Attorney General’s Office has concluded that an email solicitation sent under the name of a representative to the Vermont General Assembly did not violate Vermont’s prohibition against legislator solicitations of lobbyists. RepresentativeJill Krowinski had given the Vermont Democratic Party permission to send an email soliciting contributions to the party using her name.

The email was sent on February 14, 2017, to a list of roughly 15,600 addresses, including some lobbyists and lobbyist employers. The email indicated it was paid for by the VDP and sent from a VDP email account. Rep. Krowinski did not receive any contributions made in response to the email.

Vermont Business Magazine Vermont’s jobs outlook continues to slowly improve. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for February was 3.0 percent. This reflects a decrease of one-tenth of one percentage point from the revised January rate, as all the key indicators improved: the rate was down, the labor force and number of employed increased, and total unemployed fell. Vermont ranked sixth best, while New Hampshire had the lowest rate in the nation at 2.7 percent and New Mexico was highest of any state at 6.8 percent.

Vermont Business Magazine The Senate Finance committee voted 5-1-1 Thursday to add a $2 fee on top of the 9 percent "rooms" tax to raise $7.2 million for affordable housing and for other vulnerable Vermontes, such as victims of abuse. Governor Phill Scott on Friday issued a statement saying this new fee would be a detriment to the tourism industry, while jeopardizing broadly-supported affordable housing efforts. The Finance committee is responsible for tax policy.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott called the JobLink data breach "appalling" at a press conference Thursday at the State House with Labor Commissioner Lindsay Kurrle. While 180,000 or more Vermont Labor Department accounts could be affected, the extent of the damage is not yet known, or even whether any Vermonters were actually victimized. The state has been using the third party vendor, America'sJob Link Alliance, since 2003, as a way for job seekers, including those on unemployment, to find work. It does not effect all those who have filed for unemployment and does not require everyuser to include a social security number, though it is an option on the online form. The breach affects several states and officials are urging anyone who has used the system to check their credit and debit cards, bank accounts and credit report (see information below).

Vermont Business Magazine Comprehensive guide to online MBA programs, Online MBA Today (http://www.onlinembatoday.com/) has published a new ranking of the 50 best online MBA programs in Human Resource Management (http://www.onlinembatoday.com/rankings/best-online-human-resource-management-mba/) and Champlain College in Burlington was one of the top.

Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims jumped last week after falling the week before. This suggests that the winter tourism season is winding down just as the best snowfall of the year covered the state with deep powder. Claims were also higher than a year ago. As expected, by industry, Services reported the most claims with 597 (67 percent of the total), all the other sectors were similar to the previous week's totals. Services typically report the most claims. The spikes in the graph below reveal the previous volatility in hiring and firing in Service positions around the 2016 holidays.

Vermont Business Magazine The University of Vermont Health Network – Central Vermont Medical Center (CVMC) in Berlin has been named one of the nation’s Top 20 Rural Community Hospitals by the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). This follows the Top 100 Rural and Community Hospital honors awarded in February by iVantage Health Analytics and The Chartis Center for Rural Health.

Top 20 Rural Community Hospitals are those achieving success in overall performance based on a composite ratingfrom eight indicators of strength — inpatient market share, outpatient market share, quality, outcomes, patient perspectives, costs, charges and financial stability.

“Our results as a top health care provider mean our community can count on us to deliver the services they need now and in the future,” said Nancy Lothian, CVMC’s Interim President and Chief Operating Officer.

Vermont Business Magazine The scheduled vote on House Republican leadership’s American Health Care Act was just postponed and will no longer be taking place this evening as previously scheduled. Representative Peter Welch (D-VT) this morning spoke during the House debate on the legislation that would replace the Affordable Care Act. In his remarks, he said the bill would result in the GOP turning its back on the people who did the most to elect them.

Representative Peter Welch Remarks March 23, 2017:

“Mr. Speaker and my friends on the Republican side:

You’ve got the perfect bill. It cuts taxes $800 billion, largely at the high end. It cuts 24 million people off of healthcare. And, it ends the Medicaid entitlement. What’s the problem? Bring your bill up here!