The Vermont Department of Labor announced today the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for June 2011 followed the national trend and increased by one-tenth of a percent to 5.5 percent. This reflects the second month in a row that Vermont experienced one-tenth of one percentage point increase in the statewide rate. Compared to a year ago (June 2010), the statewide unemployment rate is down by 0.7 percent and is still well below the national level of 9.2 percent.
According to Labor’s data, seasonally-adjusted job growth showed a gain of 2,700 jobs, including those in leisure and hospitality (+900), education and health care (+800) and construction (+600) leading the growth. However, the household survey data indicates a decline in total employment and labor force, and an increase in unemployment (+400).
Responding to the data, Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said, ‘The good news is Vermont employers are adding jobs in many sectors, even though we saw an increase in unemployment.
The Department of Labor can help workers with job skill assessment, work readiness and identifying job openings; and we can assist employers with referrals, screening and matching career-ready applicants for their jobs. VDOL has Career Resource Centers in 12 regions. With the increase in available jobs, people who are unemployed, underemployed, who have stopped looking for work, who are seeking a job change, or even looking to move to Vermont, should be visiting our regional offices for assistance.’
State of Vermont Overview
Both the national and the Vermont seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by one-tenth of a percent in June - the United States to 9.2 percent and Vermont to 5.5 percent. The underlying Vermont data show declines to both total labor force and total employment ‘ 1,600 and 1,900, respectively. Total unemployment increased by 400, though this change is not statistically significant.
June unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.9 percent in Hartford to 8.1 percent in Newport (note: local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted). For comparison, the June unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 5.6 percent which is up two-tenths of a percent from the May data. This unadjusted statewide data is down six-tenths of a percent from a year ago.
Analysis of Job Changes by Industry
The preliminary ‘not seasonally adjusted’ jobs numbers for June show an increase of 4,200 jobs when compared to the revised May numbers. This reported over the month change does not include the 450 job increase between the preliminary and the revised May estimates due to the inclusion of more data. As detailed in the preliminary not seasonally adjusted June data, Total Private reports an increase of 7,250 jobs and Government reports a decrease of 3,050 jobs. In the private sector, Leisure & Hospitality (4,500 jobs) and Construction (1,350 jobs) reported the largest nominal increases. The majority of the reported over the month job loss was concentrated within State Government Education and Local Government Education (-1,800 and -1,950 jobs, respectively).
The seasonally adjusted data for June reports an increase of 2,700 jobs from the revised May data. As with the ‘not seasonally adjusted’ data, this over the month change is from the revised May numbers which experienced an upward revision from the preliminary estimates (400 jobs). A review of the seasonally adjusted June numbers shows Vermont’s Private Industries with an increase of 2,300 jobs. The advance was broad-based with Leisure & Hospitality (+900), Education & Health Services (+800) and Construction (+600) leading the charge of advancing industries. Retail Trade reported the largest over the month decline (-400) with Administrative Support & Waste (-300) closely behind. Once seasonally adjusted, Total Government reported an increase of 400 jobs from the revised May counts.
Vermont Labor Force Statistics
Seasonally Adjusted
Change to
June 2011 from
June
2011
May
2011
June
2010
May
2011
June
2010
Total Labor Force
361,500
363,100
360,700
-1,600
800
Employment
341,600
343,500
338,300
-1,900
3,300
Unemployment
19,900
19,500
22,400
400
-2,500
Rate
5.5%
5.4%
6.2%
0.1
-0.7