There were 572 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance last week. This is a decrease of 36 from the week before, as new claims fell for the thrid consecutive week following a two-week spike in claims resulting from Tropical Storm Irene. The week prior to the storm saw a seasonal low of fewer than 500 claims. Altogether 5,787 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 194 from a week ago and 1,475 fewer than a year earlier. The Department also processed 1,412 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 31 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 722 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is 5 fewer than the week before. The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc
Vermont's unemployment rate increased two-tenths in August to 5.9 percent. See story HERE.
Vermont Labor Force Statistics (Seasonally Adjusted)
Changes From
August
2011
July
2011
August
2010
July
2011
August
2010
Total Labor Force
359,800
359,800
360,000
0
-200
Employment
338,800
339,300
338,400
-500
400
Unemployment
21,100
20,500
21,600
600
-500
Rate (%)
5.9
5.7
6.0
0.2
-0.1
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.