The US jobless rate declined two-tenths of a percentage point, down to 5.1 percent in August.
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The Virginia Employment Commission said Friday that the state’s jobless rate in August was 4.5 percent. It estimates the number of Californians holding jobs in August was 17,872,000, an increase of 12,000 from July, and up 425,000 from the employment total in August of previous year. As of the prior month’s initial data, Vermont’s unemployment rate was tied for third lowest in the country. For the past three months, over-the-year employment growth has exceeded 1.0 percent.
Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Lt. Governor Nancy Wyman today released the following statements in response to the Connecticut Department of Labor’s “Labor Situation” report for August 2015, which showed several thousand jobs created last month.
The number of initial claims for unemployment insurance, a measure of new layoffs, declined by 9,152 or 25.8 percent, to 26,335 in August, the fewest since 25,014 new claims were filed in May 2000.
Private industries with the most job growth year over year were education and health services, up 4,475; other services, up 2,121; and leisure and hospitality, up 1,546.
Other sectors reported losses. The job count, tallied from a survey or employers, was up 36,200 from July, the largest monthly increase of any state – followed by Florida, up 19,600, and Ohio, up 14,600.
At the same time, the agricultural workforce shed 2,800 jobs and manufacturing shrunk by 700 workers.
August unemployment rates for Vermont’s 17 labor market areas ranged from 3.0 percent in Burlington-South Burlington to 4.9 percent in Derby (note: local labor market area unemployment rates are not seasonally adjusted).
Among the nine geographic divisions, the West North Central had the lowest unemployment rate, 4.2 percent in August. Florida’s unemployment rate peaked at 10.7 percent in December 2010.
The largest increase occurred in professional and business services, which rose 3,300 jobs to 687,400 in August.
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“Connecticut’s estimated nonfarm employment growth pace and unemployment rates have come closer in line with national averages this summer”, said Andy Condon, Director of the Office of Research.
