Vermont’s unemployment rate in September held steady at 2.6%, and remains among the lowest in the country. But the state’s workforce continues to shrink, having lost nearly 10,000 people in the past year.
According to the latest unemployment report from the Vermont Department of Labor, there were 8,749 people unemployed in September, a very slight increase from August.
“That is a low unemployment rate and it’s been that low for a while now,” said Mathew Barewicz, Economic and Labor Market Information Director at the Vermont Department of Labor. “Vermont is experiencing the economic shift that the U.S. is starting to experience with the retiring of the baby boomers and low birth rates. The population going into the workforce is not historically as big as it has been.”
Vermont is tied with New Hampshire for third-lowest unemployment rate in the country in September, behind only South Dakota and North Dakota.
But long running concerns about Vermont’s shrinking pool of workers continue to escalate.
According to the report, the number of civilians in the labor force dropped by nearly 10,000 in the past year, an almost 3% decrease. The decrease is fueled by the retirements of baby boomers, Barewicz said.
Barewicz said the low unemployment rate helps people who are looking for work, but can put a strain on companies that want to grow, or are only trying to fill jobs that already exist.
“If you’re a job seeker or a business, that low unemployment rate can present either an opportunity or challenges.”
The unemployment rate across the state varied from a low of 2.2% in Chittenden County, to a high of 3.3% in Orleans County.
Bennington County had the next highest unemployment rate at 3.1%.
