The Vermont Department of Labor announced today the seasonally adjusted statewide unemployment rate for March 2011 was 5.4 percent. This reflects a decrease of two-tenths of one percentage point to the statewide rate from the previously reported February level of 5.6 percent. Compared to a year ago (March 2010), the statewide unemployment rate has trended down by 1.2 percent.
‘The numbers indicate that the State’s economy is recovering, albeit slowly and cautiously. The improvements are becoming more tangible. Employers in the manufacturing, professional and business service, and leisure and hospitality industries are reporting significant over-the-year increases in employment. While these trends are very encouraging, the fact remains that more jobs are needed to recoup what was lost during the economic downturn of recent years. We also note that these improved numbers do not reflect the difficult economic situation faced by many Vermonters who remain unemployed, or in certain industries that have yet to rebound, or for regional areas in Vermont that have been harder hit by the loss of jobs. The Department of Labor is conducting more extensive outreach to unemployed Vermonters, particularly those who have been out of work for an extended period of time and those who have exhausted benefits’, said DOL Commissioner Annie Noonan.
Analysis of Job Changes by Industry
The preliminary ‘not seasonally adjusted’ jobs numbers for March show a decrease of 1,500 jobs when compared to the revised February numbers. This reported over the month change does not include the 500 job increase between the preliminary and the revised February estimates due to the inclusion of more data. As detailed in the preliminary not seasonally adjusted March data, Total Private reports a decrease of 1,450 jobs and Government reports a decrease of 50 jobs. In the private sector, the industry with the largest nominal increase was Professional and Business Services (350 jobs). Leisure & Hospitality (-800 jobs) and Trade, Transportation & Utilities (-700 jobs) reported the largest nominal declines in the not seasonally adjusted data. Based on the preliminary March data, the annual rate of unadjusted job growth declined two tenths of percent from the previous month to a positive 2.7 percent.
The seasonally adjusted data for March reports an increase of 200 jobs from the revised February data. As with the ‘not seasonally adjusted’ data, this over the month change is from the revised February numbers which experienced a positive revision from the preliminary estimates (+400 jobs). A review of the seasonally adjusted March numbers shows Vermont’s Private Industries with a job increase of 600 jobs. Leisure & Hospitality (600 jobs) and Manufacturing (400 jobs) reported the largest job gains. Decreases in the private sector were small with Trade, Transportation & Utilities and Construction reporting the largest job declines ‘ both losing 200 jobs. Total Government decreased by 400 jobs from the revised February counts.
State of Vermont Overview
Vermont’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased two tenths of a percent to 5.4 percent in March. For comparison purposes, the United States seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for March showed a one tenth of a percent decrease to 8.8 percent. The underlying Vermont data showed increases to the labor force (+800) and total employment (+1,400) combined with a decrease to total unemployment (-500). With this decline to the total number of unemployed, the state of Vermont is below 20,000 unemployed for the first time since November 2008.
March unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.9 percent in Warren-Waitsfield to 9.9 percent in Newport. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the March unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was unchanged from the February data at a level of 6.0 percent. This unadjusted statewide data is down one and five-tenths of a percentage point from a year ago.
Vermont Labor Force Statistics (Seasonally Adjusted)
Changes From
March
2011
February
2011
March
2010
February
2011
March
2010
Total Labor Force
364,500
363,700
361,300
800
3,200
Employment
344,700
343,300
337,400
1,400
7,300
Unemployment
19,800
20,300
23,900
-500
-4,100
Rate (%)
5.4
5.6
6.6
-0.2
-1.2
Vermont’s labor force, employment and unemployment statistics are produced from a combination of a Statewide survey of households and statistical modeling. The data are produced by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (LAUS) a cooperative program with the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Vermont Department of Labor.