Small improvement in April jobs and employment numbers

Small improvement in April jobs and employment numbers
The Vermont Department of Labor has announced that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for April 2008 was 4.5 percent, down one-tenth of a point or essentially unchanged from March and up four-tenths of a point from a year ago.
"The combination of a small improvement in both Vermont's unemployment rate and job counts may indicate some stability in Vermont's labor market even in this period of economic slowdown." said Patricia Moulton Powden, commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. "This is especially good news for Vermont, because the national economy continued to lose jobs in April."
Vermont's observed seasonally adjusted monthly changes in the employment levels, unemployment levels and unemployment rate are not statistically different from March values. For comparison purposes, the US seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March was 5.0 percent, down one-tenth of a point from March 2008. Unemployment rates for Vermont's 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.4 percent in Hartford to 8.3 percent in Newport. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 5.0 percent, down three-tenths of a point from March 2008.
Seasonally adjusted job levels fell as compared to March (-1,400 jobs or -0.5%) but grew slightly over April of 2007 (+300 jobs or +0.1%). We typically see a sizable decline in job counts from March to April as cold weather activities cease, but the summer recreation and construction seasons, have not yet begun. It appears the seasonal adjustment process may be overstating the monthly decline. The largest adjusted declines were observed in construction, (-700 / -4.1%). All other measured industry sectors showed very small gains or losses.
Before seasonal adjustment, Total Non-Farm jobs fell by 3,650 or -1.2% from March to April largely due to typical seasonal influences. Annual unadjusted job growth improved slightly at 300 jobs or +0.1%. Seasonal job gains were seen in construction (+900 / 6.5%), but the segment remains in decline showing a 700 job annual loss or -4.6%. Professional & Business services grew by 500 over the month and 150 or 0.7% over the year. Leisure and Hospitality shed 4,800 seasonal jobs over the month but grew 150 jobs or 0.5% annually. Local Government Education gained 300 jobs in April and state education lost 300 jobs, but these are both related to vacation schedules and do not reflect any significant changes in the sector.