Vermont’s unemployment rate for July increased slightly over June and was up one full point from last year.
The Department of Labor says Vermont’s unemployment rate was 4-point-8 percent in July.
In real numbers, nearly 17,000 Vermonters were without jobs – that’s an increase of 3,400 people over July 2007.
Labor Commissioner Patricia Moulton Powden says national economic conditions are making job growth difficult and it’s showing up in the labor market.
The unemployment rates varied from nearly 3 percent in Hartford, to six percent in Newport.
Vermont’s July unemployment rate was under the national average of 5.7 percent and above New Hampshire’s rate of 3.9 percent.