Vermont’s unemployment rate held at 3.1 percent in the month of May, according to the latest data from the state’s Department of Labor. The numbers show a loss of jobs in the construction and “Technical Services” sectors and new jobs added in “Administrative & Waste Services.”
The seasonally adjusted data for May show Vermont’s workforce shrank slightly from 347,300 in April to 346,350 in May. Still, the workforce in May was 2,000 workers larger than a year earlier in May 2016.
Regional unemployment data, which is not seasonally adjusted, shows the highest unemployment rate in the state is in the Woodstock labor market (5 percent), where 200 of the 3,800 workers are unemployed according to state data. The lowest regional unemployment rate was nearby in White River Junction (2.2 percent), where 450 of the 19,850 workers are unemployed.
The statewide unemployment rate didn’t change from April, though the 3.1 percent unemployment rate in April represented the first increase in the statewide rate in eight years.
The Department of Labor says June unemployment numbers will be released July 21.
