Weekly unemployment claims increase for third week

Weekly unemployment claims increased for the thrid consecutive week. Construction and and Manufacturing claims were down from the week before, but Services were up. For the week there were 742 new, regular benefit claims for Unemployment Insurance in Vermont. This is an increase of 48 from last week's total. Claims were down 10 from the same time a year ago.

Altogether 5,042 new and continuing claims were filed, an increase of 176 from a week ago and 754 fewer than a year ago. The Department also processed 1,207 First Tier claims for benefits under Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08), 20 fewer than a week ago. In addition, there were 81 Second Tier claims for benefits processed under the EUC08 program, which is 21 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 one-tenth to 5.4 percent in September, the third consecutive increase.  SEE STORY