Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell by over a quarter last week. For the week of September 22, 2018, there were 267 claims, 89 fewer than than they were the previous week, and 31 fewer than they were a year ago. Altogether 2,407 new and continuing claims were filed, an decrease of 54 from a week ago, and 125 fewer than a year ago. Weekly claims remain at a very low level. For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims have been below the year before. Vermont currently is locked into a historically low period of unemployment.
For UI claims last week by industry, Services, which typically accounts for most claims, represented 49 percent of all claims, while Manufacturing fell by more than double and accounted for 17 percent of all claims.
Vermont's unemployment rate for August was 2.8 percent. This is unchanged for the last several months and 5th lowest in the nation.SEESTORY.
UI tax rates for employers fell 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 the 12th of 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.
