MONTPELIER, Vt. — New statistics show that New Hampshire and Vermont have the fourth and fifth lowest unemployment rates in the country.

The preliminary figures for October show that North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the country, at 3.8 percent.

North Dakota is followed by South Dakota and Nebraska before New Hampshire, with an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent, and then Vermont with 5.7 percent.

Maine’s preliminary unemployment rate is 7.4 percent. Nationwide the rate is 9.6 percent.

The states with the highest unemployment are Nevada, Michigan, California, Florida and Rhode Island, where unemployment is 11.4 percent.

Vermont’s Acting Labor Commissioner Valerie Rickert says the state is seeing year-to-year job growth for the first time since May of 2008.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.