To be considered part of the statistical labor force, survey respondents must be actively looking for work and willing to accept work if offered; however, the daily impacts of this emergency, from childcare and remote education, to concerns about workplace and personal safety, make the search for work much more challenging.

Knowing that the actual number of Vermonters filing weekly for unemployment benefits remains much higher than the survey data, and that traditional work search requirements have been suspended, we know that the results of the household survey do not accurately reflect Vermont's economic reality.  What is clear, is that the traditional definitions used to calculate unemployment rates or categorize displaced workers under normal circumstances, do not align with the crisis environment we’re in today.” "