Unemployment rate drops to 6.6 percent, 1,000 jobs added
The Vermont Department of Labor announced today that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February 2010 was 6.6 percent, down one tenth of a point from the revised January rate and down one tenth of a point from a year ago.“Vermont saw modest job growth across a number of sectors in our labor market in February,” said Patricia Moulton Powden, Commissioner of the Vermont Department of Labor. “While this is promising news, we would need to see this pattern continue to determine that employment recovery has begun in the state.”Seasonal Job GrowthDuring non-recessionary periods this past decade unadjusted job counts have grown an average of 1,200 jobs from January to February. This year we saw an increase of 2,200 or 0.7%, a better than average performance. The annual rate of unadjusted job growth improved to -1.4%. Much of the seasonal job gains came from the Education & Health sector, (900 or 1.5%) the State Government Education sector, (1,400 or 17.8%) and the Local Government Education sector, (600 or 2.4%). These are mostly education support staff returning from their January breaks. We also saw seasonal job gains in Manufacturing, (200 or 0.7%) Leisure & Hospitality, (400 or 1.1%) and Administrative Support & Waste, (250 or 3.2%). The largest seasonal declines were observed in Retail Trade, (-300 or -0.8%) Construction, (-750 or -7.4%) Other Services, (-300 or -3.1%) and Other State Government, (-250 or -2.8%).When seasonally adjusted, February payroll jobs grew by 1,000 jobs or 0.3% over January. This growth was led by the Administrative Support & Waste sector, (400 jobs or 4.7%) Local Government, (300 or 1.0%) Leisure & Hospitality, (200 or 0.6%) Manufacturing, (200 or 0.7%) and the Retail sector, (200 or 0.6%). Seasonally adjusted job losses were observed in the Construction sector, (-200 or -1.6%) and State Government, (-200 or -1.1%).Employment GrowthVermont’s February seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell one tenth of a point to 6.6% as a result of an increase of 1,500 in the number of employed and a small decline, (-200) in the level of unemployed. For comparison purposes, the US seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February was 9.7 percent, unchanged from January, 2010.February unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 5.1 percent in Hartford to 11.0 percent in Newport. Local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted. For comparison, the February unadjusted unemployment rate for Vermont was 7.1 percent, down four-tenths of a point from January 2010 and down 0.3 points from a year ago.Vermont Labor Force Statistics (Seasonally Adjusted)Changes FromFebruary2010January2010February2009January2010February2009Total Labor Force361,300359,900361,1001,400200Employment337,400335,900337,0001,500400Unemployment23,90024,10024,100-200-200Rate (%)6.66.76.7-0.1-0.1Vermont’s 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.Vermont Seasonally Adjusted Nonfarm Employment in ThousandsBY NAICSPrelim.RevisedRevisedChange From:% Change From:Feb-10 Jan-10 Feb-09 Jan-10 Feb-09 Jan-10 Feb-09 Total – All Industries297.3296.3301.21.0-3.90.3-1.3Private Industries243.3242.4246.80.9-3.50.4-1.4Construction12.312.514.3-0.2-2.0-1.6-14.0Manufacturing30.630.432.80.2-2.20.7-6.7Durable Goods21.821.523.70.3-1.91.4-8.0Non-Durable Goods8.88.99.1-0.1-0.3-1.1-3.3Trade, Transportation & Utilities54.654.357.00.3-2.40.6-4.2Retail Trade 36.536.338.60.2-2.10.6-5.4Trans., Warehousing & Utilities8.18.18.50.0-0.40.0-4.7Financial Activities12.512.412.50.10.00.80.0Professional & Business Services21.821.822.20.0-0.40.0-1.8Professional., Scientific & Technical12.712.813.1-0.1-0.8-0.8-3.1Administrative Support & Waste8.98.58.70.40.24.72.3Education & Health Services61.060.959.40.11.60.22.7Private Ed. Services13.012.813.30.2-0.31.6-2.3Health Care & Social Assistance48.048.146.1-0.11.9-0.24.1Leisure & Hospitality 34.634.432.40.22.20.66.8Arts, Entertainment & Recreation3.73.74.00.0-0.30.0-7.5Accommodation & Food Services30.930.728.40.22.50.78.8Other Services9.69.99.6-0.30.0-3.00.0Total Government54.053.954.40.1-0.40.2-0.7State Government17.317.517.9-0.2-0.6-1.1-3.4Local Government30.330.030.20.30.11.00.3Burlington-S. Burlington MSATotal – All Industries109.7109.1112.60.6-2.90.5-2.6Statewide Total – All Industries estimate is seasonally adjusted independently.Note: Beginning January 2009 Vermont is publishing a seasonally adjusted Total-All Industries estimate for theBurlington – S. Burlington MSA.Current Employment Statistics Program (CES). Produced by the Vermont Department of Labor in cooperation with the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics.ESTIMATED NONFARM EMPLOYMENT IN VERMONT(not seasonally adjusted)PRELIMREVISEDREVISEDCHANGES FROM% CHANGES FROMINDUSTRY BY NAICSFeb-10Jan-10Feb-09Jan-10Feb-09Jan-10Feb-09TOTAL NONFARM296,600294,400300,8002,200-4,2000.7%-1.4%TOTAL PRIVATE240,100239,600243,850500-3,7500.2%-1.5%GOODS PRODUCING40,40040,95044,700-550-4,300-1.3%-9.6%MANUFACTURING30,30030,10032,400200-2,1000.7%-6.5%Durable Goods21,75021,35023,500400-1,7501.9%-7.4%Computer & Electrical Equipment Mfg.7,6507,7508,300-100-650-1.3%-7.8%Fabricated Metal Products Mfg.2,3502,3502,4500-1000.0%-4.1%Non-Durable Goods8,5508,7508,900-200-350-2.3%-3.9%Food Mfg.3,8003,9003,850-100-50-2.6%-1.3%CONSTRUCTION9,40010,15011,600-750-2,200-7.4%-19.0%MINING & LOGGING700700700000.0%0.0%SERVICE-PROVIDING256,200253,450256,1002,7501001.1%0.0%TRADE, TRANSPORTATION AND UTILITIES53,35053,50056,100-150-2,750-0.3%-4.9%Wholesale Trade9,8509,6509,7502001002.1%1.0%Retail Trade35,50035,80038,000-300-2,500-0.8%-6.6%Food & Beverage Stores9,85010,1009,800-25050-2.5%0.5%General Merchandise Store2,8002,9002,650-100150-3.4%5.7%Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities8,0008,0508,350-50-350-0.6%-4.2%Utilities1,7001,7001,700000.0%0.0%Transportation & Warehousing6,3006,3506,650-50-350-0.8%-5.3%INFORMATION5,4005,3505,55050-1500.9%-2.7%FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES12,45012,40012,50050-500.4%-0.4%Finance & Insurance9,5009,4509,45050500.5%0.5%Real Estate, Rental & Leasing2,9502,9503,0500-1000.0%-3.3%PROFESSIONAL AND BUSINESS SERVICES20,95020,85021,250100-3000.5%-1.4%Professional, Scientific and Technical12,60012,60013,1000-5000.0%-3.8%Administrative, Support and Waste8,1507,9007,8002503503.2%4.5%EDUCATIONAL AND HEALTH SERVICES61,10060,20059,4509001,6501.5%2.8%Educational Services13,50012,55013,750950-2507.6%-1.8%College, Universities and Professional7,6507,2007,700450-506.3%-0.6%Health Care and Social Assistance47,60047,65045,700-501,900-0.1%4.2%Ambulatory Health Care Services15,80015,80015,60002000.0%1.3%Hospitals12,85012,90012,300-50550-0.4%4.5%Nursing and Residential Care Facilities6,8506,8506,850000.0%0.0%LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY37,05036,65034,8504002,2001.1%6.3%Arts, Entertainment and Recreation3,3503,3003,70050-3501.5%-9.5%Accommodation and Food Services33,70033,35031,1503502,5501.0%8.2%Accommodations16,75016,40013,8503502,9002.1%20.9%Hotels & Motels14,40014,30013,0001001,4000.7%10.8%Food Services and Drinking Places16,95016,95017,3000-3500.0%-2.0%OTHER SERVICES9,4009,7009,450-300-50-3.1%-0.5%GOVERNMENT56,50054,80056,9501,700-4503.1%-0.8%Federal Government6,3506,4506,400-100-50-1.6%-0.8%State Government Education9,2507,8509,3001,400-5017.8%-0.5%Local Government Education25,10024,50024,9006002002.4%0.8%Other State Government8,8009,0509,300-250-500-2.8%-5.4%Other Local Government7,0006,9507,05050-500.7%-0.7%Note: CES PROGRAM DATA ARE PRDUCED IN COOPERATION WITH THE U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICSESTIMATES ARE PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO REVISION. SEE ANNUAL SUMMARY FOR DETAILSBeginning with the January ’09 estimates CES has implemented a change to theSuper Sector previously titled “Natural Resources & Mining” to “Mining & Logging”.It’s merely a change of title to better reflect the true makeup of the Super Sector in CES.VERMONT LABOR FORCE AND UNEMPLOYMENTLABOR MARKET AREAS BY RESIDENCE (Not Seasonally Adjusted)February 2010 EstimatesTotalNumberNumberFeb-10Jan-10Feb-09AreaLabor ForceEmployedUnemployedRate (%)Rate (%)Rate (%)Barre-Montpelier29,50027,2002,3007.88.68.2Bennington13,25012,2501,0507.88.09.6Bradford4,9004,40050010.110.010.2Brattleboro24,65023,0501,6006.46.86.4Burlington-South Burlington113,150106,5506,6005.86.46.3Hartford19,80018,8001,0005.15.04.7Manchester12,45011,5509507.67.77.8Middlebury17,85016,4001,4008.08.18.0Morristown-Stowe20,90019,1501,7508.38.58.6Newport14,25012,7001,55011.011.011.9Randolph8,6007,8507508.58.88.7Rutland28,15026,0002,1507.67.87.8Springfield13,30012,3509507.27.47.1St. Johnsbury14,75013,5001,2508.58.88.7Swanton-Enosburg14,30013,0501,2508.79.09.3Warren-Waitsfield4,6004,4002004.44.64.3Woodstock3,4503,2502005.96.15.2Vermont Total360,200334,55025,6507.17.57.4Note: Unemployment rate is calculated as the number of unemployed divided by total labor force and expressed as a percent.Source: Vermont Department of Labor LAUS program in cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Source: VT DOL. 3.26
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