[T]here are only about 7,300 people in Vermont looking for work, according to statistics released by the state Department of Labor.
The state-calculated Vermont unemployment rate hit a new low of 2.1% in May, according to the department, which uses data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The comparable United States rate in May was 3.6%, the department said, meaning that employers in Vermont are having a more difficult time finding workers than many of their peers outside the state.
The DOL report said about 7,300 people in Vermont are actively looking for work. The number that jumped out at state DOL economist Mat Barewicz was the 600 who have given up on finding a job despite the “help wanted” signs at businesses large and small around the state. Some of those are long-term unemployed, who have been out of work for half a year or more.
In January, there were an estimated 1,400 people who had given up looking for work.
The 600 is “as low as I’ve seen it,” said Barewicz. The DOL noted there are 8,500 job postings on the department’s Vermont Job Link alone.
“For people who have been long-term unemployed, this is the time to maybe try and splash some cold water on the face, gear up, and say, ‘Now is the time, I have an opportunity to try and hopefully grab a foothold onto the economic ladder towards self-sufficiency,’” Barewicz said.
The low unemployment rate means that the state’s civilian labor force increased by 675 from the prior month’s estimate, the DOL said. The May unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 1.5% in the Burlington-South Burlington and White River Junction areas to 3.1% in Woodstock, the DOL said.
Employers and economists have said that a lack of available labor is suppressing economic growth in Vermont. Betsy Bishop, the president of the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, said employers are starting to cut back on their hours and their production because they can’t find the help they need.
“The shortage is real,” she said. “We have employers making difficult decisions: ‘So if I can’t get enough people to work for me, maybe I’ll close my restaurant two days a week. If I can’t get enough people to clean the rooms, after I have guests stay at my hotel or B&B, maybe I will not have these five rooms available.’”
Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe this year met with employers to come up with ways to help people who have recently arrived from foreign countries to secure employment. Among other things, Ashe has proposed creating a certificate of readiness to show prospective employers when an applicant has the English language and other skills necessary to do the job.
Lawmakers took a few other steps to tackle the problem in this year’s legislative session. The bill H.533, which was signed into law June 20, included some measures aimed at mitigating employers’ reluctance to hire people who have criminal records. The bill also provides training for corrections workers to help former inmates find jobs.
Bishop said employers seem more willing now than in the past to hire people who have recently left prison.
“We see employers who are willing to have that conversation now who might not be willing to have that in the past,” she said. “We are seeing companies employing more new Americans and trying to figure out how to do that.”
The Vermont Chamber is also part of a group working with employers to figure out how to get more people with addiction in their past into the workforce. Many employers don’t know much about the issues associated with hiring former addicts, Bishop said; one goal of the group is to come up with ways to support them.
“As the Vermont Chamber, we’re trying to think through some of these issues so they can say ‘Yes, I am willing to do that,’” said Bishop. “In the past, they didn’t have to be willing to do that, because there were plenty of applications.”
Bishop also has a member company that chose its new location in Williston in part because it’s on the bus line.
“Was that the only reason? No,” said Bishop. “But in that decision-making process was, ‘How do we make sure we are available to as many people as possible?’”
