Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims fell below 500 last week and continue to slowly decrease. For the week of February 16, 2019, there were 479 claims, 21 fewer than they were the previous week, but 67 more than they were a year ago. Altogether 5,863 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 10 from a week ago, but 74 fewer than a year ago.
For most weeks of 2017 and 2018 claims were lower than the year before, but have been trending slightly up on a weekly basis so far in 2019. Vermont, like the nation as a whole, is locked into a historically low period of unemployment and a tight labor market.
For UI claims last week by industry, Services, which typically accounts for most claims, represented 31 percent of all claims. Construction claims constituted 38 percent for the week, which was the most for any category and a steep increase from the previous week. Manufacturing claims fell by more than half for the week, but are slightly higher than they were this time last year.
Vermont's unemployment rate for December 2018 was 2.7 percent. This is unchanged from November. Vermont's rate is 5th lowest in the nation. SEE STORY. The US rate rose two-tenths to 3.9 percent. (The January rate will not be released until March 11 as the DOL makes its annual adjustments.)
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.
Vermont's minimum wage rose to $10.78 on January 1, 2019.
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.
