Vermont’s unemployment rate rose slightly in August to 3.3 percent, an increase of 0.1 percentage point over July’s rate.
Vermont’s unemployment rate increase is not considered statistically significant, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, which analyzes labor data across the country.
The national unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in August. Vermont had the fifth lowest unemployment rate in the country, behind Nebraska (3.2 percent), North Dakota (3.1 percent), New Hampshire (3 percent) and South Dakota (2.9 percent).
“Even with this month’s small rise in the rate, the statewide unemployment rate is still low compared to historical averages,” Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said in a news release.
“We would have to go back to 2001 to find (unemployment) rates as low as the current level, and the tight labor market conditions appear to be creating upward, positive pressure on wages, as evidenced by recently released data,” Noonan said.
According to the Public Assets Institute, a left-leaning think tank in Montpelier, median household income in Vermont went up 5.1 percent in 2015, and low-income household income went up 8.5 percent.
Poverty rates are also declining, according to the Public Assets Institute, and Vermont had the second-lowest poverty rate in New England, behind New Hampshire.
