Vermont Business MagazineWeekly unemployment claims increased again last week and have been rising slowly the entire month. For the week of October 20, 2018, there were 391 claims, 19 more than than they were the previous week, but 81 fewer than they were a year ago. Altogether 2,524 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 121 from a week ago, but 242 fewer than a year ago. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims have been lower than the year before. Vermont, like the nation as a whole, is locked into a historically low period of unemployment despite small increases over the last month.
Vermont's unemployment rate for September 2018 was 2.9 percent. This is an increase of one-tenth and the first time the rate has gone up since 2009, though this could be further adjusted. Vermont's rate is8thlowest in the nation, down from5thin August.SEESTORY.
The Vermont rate for October is scheduled to be released November 16.
The unemployment rate in the US declined to 3.7 percent in September of 2018 from 3.9 percent in each of the previous two months, according to the US Department of Labor in its report released earlier in the month. It is the lowest jobless rate since December of 1969. The number of unemployed persons decreased by 270,000 to 6.0 million. Over the year, the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed persons declined by 0.5 percentage point and 795,000, respectively. Unemployment Rate in the United States averaged 5.77 percent from 1948 until 2018, reaching an all time high of 10.80 percent in November of 1982 and a record low of 2.50 percent in May of 1953.
For UI claims last week by industry, Services, which typically accounts for most claims, represented 57 percent of all claims, while Construction about doubled and accounted for 9 percent of all claims.
UI tax rates for employersfell again on July 1, 2018, as claims continue to be lower than previous projections. Individual employers' reduced taxable wage rates will vary according to their experience rating; however, the rate reduction will lower the highest UI tax rate from 7.7 percent to 6.5 percent. The lowest UI tax rate will see a reduction from 1.1 percent to 0.8 percent.
Also effective July 1, 2018, the maximum weekly unemployment benefit will be indexed upwards to 57% of the average weekly wage. The current maximum weekly benefit amount is $466, which will increase to $498. Both changes are directly tied to the change in the Tax Rate Schedule.
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
NOTE: Employment (nonfarm payroll)- A count of all persons who worked full- or part-time or received pay from a nonagricultural employer for any part of the pay period which included the12thof the month. Because this count comes from a survey of employers, persons who work for two different companies would be counted twice. Therefore, nonfarm payroll employment is really a count of the number of jobs, rather than the number of persons employed. Persons may receive pay from a job if they are temporarily absent due to illness, bad weather, vacation, or labor-management dispute. This count is based on where the jobs are located, regardless of where the workers reside, and is therefore sometimes referred to as employment "by place of work." Nonfarm payroll employment data are collected and compiled based on the Current Employment Statistics (CES) survey, conducted by the Vermont Department of Labor. This count was formerly referred to as nonagricultural wage and salary employment.
