366 words / VTDigger.org
December brought good news and bad news for Vermont’s jobs picture: The unemployment rate dropped again, but so did the labor force.
Among the people who consider themselves ready and willing to work, more of them were employed in December than in recent months. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remains among the lowest in the nation, at just 4.2 percent compared to a national average of 6.7 percent.
But fewer people consider themselves ready and willing to work. Vermont’s labor force lost about 950 people in December, dropping to 349,900 — the lowest in 35 years.
