Weekly unemployment claims hold steady

Weekly unemployment claims increased slightly last week, but remained at a relatively low level in the mid-500s. Construction and Manufacturing claims were down, but Service claims increased from the week before. For the week there were 571 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 42 from last week's total. Claims were down 239 from the same time a year ago .

Altogether 4,780 new and continuing claims were filed, a decrease of 42 from a week ago and 1,110 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 1,264 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 4 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 125 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is 40 fewer than the week before. The Tier II program of extended benefits is being discontinued in Vermont as the state's unemployment rate has been under the federal threshold for more than three months.

The Unemployment Weekly Report can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/. Previously released Unemployment Weekly Reports and other UI reports can be found at: http://www.vtlmi.info/lmipub.htm#uc  

Vermont's unemployment rate increased three-tenths to 5.3 percent in August, the second consecutive increase. This is the lowest rate in New England and fifth lowest in the US. SEE STORY