Vermont’s employers created 2,200 jobs in November, bringing the state to a 12-month high in employment, according to a new report by the state Department of Labor.
“Employers are reporting that they’re hiring and that there’s increased employment opportunities,” said Matthew Barewicz, the state’s chief of economic and labor market information. “And the unemployment rate is declining, indicating that there is becoming a tighter labor market, meaning that there’s more opportunities for those looking.”
With jobless numbers down from 4.5 percent to 4.4 percent in November and employment on the rise, Barewicz said the statistics show Vermont is on the road to recovery from the 2008 nationwide recession.
Another trend Barewicz said he’s seen this year is a shrinking labor force, which in some cases is a bad sign.
“Your biggest concern in that situation is that people are exiting the labor force because they’ve given up looking for work,” he said. But Vermont’s data shows that that isn’t the case, according to Barewicz.
“It could be due to a number of things,” he said. “One, most notably, is pent up demand for retirement.”
Vermonters who were considering retirement as the recession hit may have decided to wait, Barewicz said. If they’re retiring now, that doesn’t necessarily indicate a bad thing for Vermont’s economy “and in some ways, that could indicate economic strength.”
The state plans to release December employment information by late January, at which point the Department of Labor will begin work on a comprehensive year-long report covering all of 2013. That report, Barewicz said, should be ready in March.
