BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – The statewide unemployment rate is at 2.2%, which is lower than the national average of 3.8% – but Vermont employers are still looking for workers.
If you’re in the trades and open to work, there’s probably a job for you.
“We’ll have things like last summer where we had the flooding in central Vermont, and we can always use extra people for that kind of stuff,” said Gary Pinckney of G.W. Savage Corporation.
G.W. Savage is an emergency restoration service. Pinckney says some days in emergency restoration are busier than others, but being prepared for all-hands-on-deck jobs is part of the game.
They say they’ve had a staff of about 60 or so over the years but they’re always looking for more to join.
“We’re anticipating probably going to be a lot of mold jobs this summer just because of all the moisture that we saw last summer. So always looking for extra people,” said Pinckney.
Health care is another sector of Vermont’s workforce that’s looking for staff to give them a hand.
Kristina Booher of Rutland Mental Health Services’ community care network notes there aren’t many colleges in the area with a direct pipeline of mental health studies, which also contributes to the roughly 30 open positions ranging from child and family services to elder care.
“I think during COVID A lot of people retired in this space, just to take care of themselves in their own mental health and we have a lot of burnout with this field,” said Booher.
Booher says career changes are welcome to consider positions, too.
“Maybe they had been a nurse in the past or we’re doing overnights and they said, I still want to help people in some capacity, but I just can’t do that anymore. What do you have that fits my schedule? And I think flexibility is more important now than ever was in the past,” she said.
Statewide, Wendy Morse of the Department of Labor says the demand often determines the employee need, noting how the economy is placing a high demand on healthcare and construction.
“Because the economy is strong, but when the economy constricts, people don’t build as much or we have as much so that does change, but certainly right now,” said Morse.
Morse says the unemployment rate has decreased significantly since 2021. Remote work is in this conversation too, with state data showing how 52% of Vermont employees work from home.
On Thursday, there’s a job fair at Deer Park in Bennington starting at 11 a.m.
For folks who live closer to the northern part of the state, there is also a St. Albans job fair on May 30.