For the first time since last summer, the state's jobless rate went down. It had increased each of the last five months. The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally-adjusted statewide unemployment rate for November 2012 decreased by three-tenths of a percent from the prior month to 5.2 percent.It reached its lowest point, 4.6 percent, last May.Vermonts seasonally-adjusted rate remains significantly lower than the national average of 7.7 percent which decreased by two-tenths of one percent from the prior month. Perhaps more importantly than the overall rate, the measure of Total Employment in Vermont increased for the third straight month, though still well below last November's total.
We were very pleased to see the monthly unemployment number decrease this month, as well as the gains in total employment. VDOLs regional Career Resource Centers are helping businesses find qualified applicants, and registering more jobs and job seekers into our JobLink system each day. The Departments focus on reemployment versus unemployment is making a difference. Our Reemployment Eligibility Assistance and Career Resource staff members are actually bending the curve downward on participating claimants unemployment duration, helping claimants get reemployed 30% faster than before we instituted our REA program. The Department is also doing more extensive Job Search verification on claimants work searches, and that work is also helping to increase participation in our career resource services, said Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan.
State of Vermont Overview
Vermont Labor Force Statistics (Seasonally Adjusted)
Changes From
November
2012
October
2012
November
2011
October
2012
November
2011
Total Labor Force
358,000
358,200
360,000
-200
-2,000
Employment
339,200
338,700
340,900
500
-1,700
Unemployment
18,800
19,600
19,100
-800
-300
Rate (%)
5.2
5.5
5.3
-0.3
-0.1
Vermonts labor force, employment and unemployment statistics are produced from a combination of a Statewide survey of households and statistical modeling. The data are produced by the Local Area Unemployment Statistics Program (LAUS) a cooperative program with the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Vermont Department of Labor.
The Vermont seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased by three-tenths of a percent to 5.2 percent in November. The comparable rate for the United States decreased two-tenths of a percent to 7.7 percent. The seasonally adjusted Vermont data for November show the Vermont total labor force decreased by 200 from the October estimates. Total Employment increased by 500 while Total Unemployment increased by 800. Both the over-the-month declines in the unemployment rate and the Total Unemployment were statistically significant.
November unemployment rates for Vermonts 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.0 percent in Hartford to 6.1 percent in Newport and Springfield (note: local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted). For comparison, the November unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 4.6 percent which reflects no change from the October level and a decline of three-tenths of a percent from a year ago.
Analysis of Job Changes by Industry
The preliminary not-seasonally-adjusted jobs estimates for November show a decrease of 500 jobs when compared to the revised October numbers. This reported over-the-month change does not include the 900 job increase between the preliminary and the revised October estimates due to the inclusion of more data. Retail trade saw a significant increase from the prior month (+950 jobs or 2.4 percent). The broader economic trends can be detected by focusing on the changes between November 2012 and November 2011 data. As detailed in the preliminary not seasonally adjusted November data, Total Private Industries have increased by 1.8 percent (4,350 jobs) and Government has decreased by 2.1 percent (-1,150 jobs) within the last year.
The seasonally adjusted data for November reports an increase of 2,200 jobs from the revised October data. As with the not-seasonally-adjusted data, this over-the-month change is from the revised October numbers which experienced an upward revision from the preliminary estimates by 700 jobs. Based on a review of the seasonally adjusted over-the-month changes in November, the following four sectors had the largest percent increases: Construction (+600 jobs or 4.4 percent), Leisure & Hospitality (+500 jobs or 1.5 percent), Trade, Transportation & Utilities (800 jobs or 1.4 percent) and Manufacturing (+400 jobs or 1.3 percent). Total Government declined by 200 jobs (-0.4 percent).