Fri, 01/29/2021 - 1:21pm -- tim by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine Weekly unemployment claims last week fell by more than 25 percent but remain at a historically high level. Numbers also fell nationally but also remain high. Economists also suggest the new year is off to a sluggish start. Claims in Vermont last week decreased by 394 to 1,459 (up 941 from the same time last year, which was before the pandemic hit). As for the week's ongoing jobless claims, for the week ending January 23, 2021, the Labor Department processed 14,367 claims, down 743 from the previous week and 8,863 more than the same time last year. As for further comparison, initial Vermont claims for the week of March 21, 2020 (the first full week of the pandemic in Vermont), were 3,784, up 3,125 from the week of March 14.