Labor statistics for September show Vermont’s unemployment rate ticked up for the first time in 12 months.
The seasonally adjusted figures released Tuesday by the Department of Labor show September unemployment in Vermont at 3.7 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from the August level of 3.6 percent. The national unemployment rate held steady at 5.1 percent, the Vermont DOL said in a news release.
“It has been a very positive twelve-month period, during which time Vermont’s unemployment rate has only increased once. Vermont’s current rate of 3.7 percent is still one of the very lowest unemployment rates in the country, and many Vermont employers are continuing to recruit and hire new employees,” Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said in the release.
Local unemployment rates, which are unadjusted, varied from a low of 3.2 percent in Burlington-South Burlington to 5.5 percent in Derby.
According to the department, there were 2,100 fewer jobs in September than were reported in the revised August data.
The losses appeared most prominent in the private education services, financial activities and other services sectors, the report said.
Gains were seen in professional and technical services, retail trade and leisure and hospitality.
