In Bennington County, which has the third highest unemployment rate in Vermont, a company called Plasan North America is expanding.

The economic downturn has meant that many high school and college students faced a tight job market this season. But as VPR's Lynne McCrea reports, federal stimulus money provided some young Vermonters with better-than-ever work opportunities.

Summer is the busiest season for weddings in Vermont, among locals and out-of-state couples alike. But some who make their living on these celebrations have found that weddings have changed in the middle of a recession.

Vermont is one of only two states in the nation that doesn't have any banks that took bailout money from the federal government. The other is Montana. One reason is because Vermont banks are so small.  

By the end of August, about 250 workers at the Ethan Allen Furniture factory in Beecher Falls will be out of work.  In this economy, and in this remote corner at the juncture of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Canada, the prospects for re-employment are especially slim.

The economic downturn that began in the fall deepened into a recession that some compare to the Great Depression. As VPR reported in a series in February, jobs were being cut, incomes were falling and the recession was Hitting Home. So now, six months later, what's changed?