October jobless rate holds at 4.4%

Vermont’s unemployment rate held steady at 4.4 percent in October, according to the state Department of Labor.

The leveling follows four consecutive months of increases in the seasonally adjusted jobless rate.

The U.S. average unemployment rate ticked down one-tenth of a point to 5.8 percent. Nationwide, Vermont tied with Kansas for ninth-lowest unemployment rates. Since September, New Hampshire has had the lowest unemployment rate in New England; it’s now 4.2 percent.

Labor Commissioner Annie Noonan said the summer slowdown in employment may be reversing direction.

“Vermont employers are reporting increased opportunities throughout the state,” she said.

October unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas, where data are not seasonally adjusted, ranged from 2.4 percent in Woodstock to 4.3 percent in Bennington and Newport.

The unemployment rate in the Waterbury-Stowe-Morristown labor market was 3.3 percent, down from 4.1 percent in September and from 3.8 percent in October 2013. The data show 21,050 people in the local workforce, and all but 700 had jobs.

For comparison, the October unadjusted unemployment rate for all of Vermont was 3.4 percent, down eight-tenths from September; that equates to 4,200 jobs. The increase is largely attributable to education.

Examining raw employment numbers year-over-year, manufacturing has grown by 3.2 percent, or 1,000 jobs, since October 2013, despite loss of 600 positions in computer and electrical equipment manufacturing. Food manufacturing made up some of the losses with a 7.7 percent gain, 400 jobs. The information sector declined by roughly 4.4 percent, or 200 positions.

At the tail end of the leaf-peeping season, leisure and hospitality dropped 600 jobs from September, but still added 400 jobs overall from the same time last year. Those annual gains stemmed mostly from accommodations, as food service jobs dropped by 1,500, or 7.7 percent. Retail trade added 600 jobs for 1.6 percent annual growth.