Vermont Business Magazine Driven by an increase in the number of employed and a drop in the number of unemployed, the Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for April 2014 was 3.3 percent. This represents a decrease of one-tenth of a percent from the March rate of 3.4 percent. The comparative national average was 6.3 percent, which was down four-tenths of a percent from March. April 2014 data represents the seventh consecutive reported monthly decrease to the statewide unemployment rate in Vermont. Vermont’s unemployment rate remains the second lowest in the country (North Dakota 2.6 percent).
“The monthly data for April captures the typical seasonal volatility for this time of year. After a successful winter season for ski areas and leisure and hospitality businesses, these seasonal jobs are declining just as the summer jobs will increase around Memorial Day. We have seen job growth in Vermont during the last few months, despite some losses in certain areas. As of last month, Vermont had the second lowest unemployment rate in the country. We encourage recent graduates, people who have been laid off, or people looking for a new job to contact their local office of the Vermont Department of Labor. We are working to help many Vermont employers fill vacancies, and they are looking for workers with skills, a good work ethic and attitude,” said Commissioner Annie Noonan.
The seasonally adjusted Vermont data for April show the Vermont civilian labor force increased by 50 from the prior month estimates. The number of employed increased by 650 and the number of unemployed decreased by 600. None of the over-the- month changes to the seasonally-adjusted estimates were statistically significant.
April unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 2.5 percent in Hartford to 6.0 percent in Newport (note: local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted). For comparison, the April unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 3.7 percent which reflects a decrease of four-tenths of a percent from the March level and a decline of eight-tenths of a percent from a year ago.
Not Seasonally Adjusted
The preliminary ‘not-seasonally-adjusted’ jobs estimates for April show a decrease of 3,000 jobs when compared to the revised March numbers. This reported over-the-month change does not include the 100 job increase between the preliminary and the revised March estimates due to the inclusion of more data. The monthly decrease seen in the April numbers was attributable to seasonal decreases related to Leisure & Hospitality. The broader economic trends can be detected by focusing on the over-the-year changes in this data series. As detailed in the preliminary ‘notseasonally- adjusted’ April data, Total Private industries have increased by 0.6 percent (1,500 jobs) and Government employment has increased by 0.5 percent (300 jobs).
Seasonally Adjusted
The seasonally adjusted data for April reports an increase of 100 jobs from the revised March data. As with the ‘not-seasonally-adjusted’ data, this over-the-month change is from the revised March numbers which experienced a 100 job increase from the preliminary estimates.
The seasonally adjusted over-the-month changes in April were minor at the sectorial level. Those with a notable percent change include: Leisure & Hospitality (+400 jobs or +1.1 percent) and Construction (-200 jobs or -1.4 percent).
As compared to neighboring states, Massachusetts reported an unemployment rate of 6.0 percent, New Hampshire's was 4.4 percent and New York's was 6.7 percent.
VERY TOP GRAPH: The nonfarm wage and salary employment presented by the Vermont DOL excludes proprietors, the self-employed, unpaid family workers, farm workers, and domestic workers in private households. Nonfarm employment is defined as including all persons who worked full or part-time, or received wages for any part of the pay period including the 12th day of each month. While the seasonally adjusted nonfarm was nearly identical to last month and last year, the unadjusted numbers showed a steep drop from March 2014 (-3,000), but a noticeable gain from April 2013 (1,800).