There were 876 new regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont last week. Claims continued to subside after a spike over the holidays and are back under 1,000 for the first time this year. By comparison, new claims last summer were running under 500. In this latest report, new claims decreased 341 from the week before and are 39 above last year's total.
Altogether 10,256 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 36 from a week ago and 2,577 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 1,538 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 25 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 626 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is 2 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 fell three-tenths to 5.1 percent in December. See storyHERE.