Vermont Business MagazineNew weekly unemployment claims in Vermont edged above 1,400 last week. Claims had been very low during the summer, trending under 500, but have been high since early October. After five weeks of increases, claims were down for two weeks before again increasing the last two. Levels this year had been running consistently lower than those of last year, but are now nearly the same.Forthe week of November 29, 2014, there were 1,428 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 422 from the previous week's total, and 37 fewer than they were a year ago.
According to Mathew Barewicz, Economic & Labor Market Information Chief at the Vermont Department of Labor, the cause of the increase was predominately the result of "a seasonal transition. This past week was much higher than the previous week but slightly lower than this time last year."
Altogether 6,292 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 310 from a week ago and 5 fewer than a year ago. The Department processed 1 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), the same asthe previous week.
There were no Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program. There were zero Tier III claims. The Tier I, II and III programs expired on December 28, 2013. Congress would need to act to renew these extended benefit programs.SEESTORY
The total for all programs was 6,293 claims, 310 more than last week, and 683 fewer than the same time last year.
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 held at 4.4 percent in October as jobs were added. It was as low as 3.3 percent in May.SEESTORY.