Optimism that Connecticut's downturn in jobs was easing has been wiped out with a report showing the state's employers shed 6,600 jobs in September, and the unemployment rate leaped to 8.4 percent from 8.1 percent.
The report from the state Department of Labor was expected to show a continued trend toward recovery, with modest job losses and a steady jobless rate. Instead, steep losses in education, administrative work, retail trade, transportation and utilities paced a month that harkened back to the huge declines of last winter.
Job losses for August were also revised upward, to 4,800 from a previously reported total of 3,700.
Connecticut remains well below the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent, but the increase in September, three-tenths of 1 percent, is considered large.
Salvatore DiPillo, the state's labor statisitics supervisor, noted that the unemployment rate is now at a 33-year high, But he added, "There is a bright spot, with construction adding 1,200 jobs -- the largest monthly gain in nearly two years of job losses."
Another potential bright spot comes from the jump in the unemployment rate. Because the three-month average of the rate now stands at 8.1 percent, Connecticut is expected to qualify for seven weeks of extended benefits for unemployed workers. The federal government must still make the final determination.
About 16,000 unemployed workers could be eligible for those benefits, the labor department said.
States must have an unemployment rate that averages at least 8 percent over three months to qualify for the benefits.
Any single month's data is inexact, and subject to large revisions, but the downward trend remains clear in the data. For the 12 months ending in September, the state lost 76,300 jobs, or 4.5 percent of its total -- about the same decline as in the nation. The unemployment rate in september, 2008 was 6 percent.
Since peaking in March, 2008, the state's economy has lost 86,800 jobs.
The construction industry, which has lost 19.5 percent of its jobs in the state despite September's gains, remains the largest percentage loser, followed by administration and business services support jobs.
Health care and social assistance, along with arts, entertainment and recreation, are flat from one year ago, the best performers by industry. Health jobs had been growing through most of the recession, until a few months ago.
Donald L. Klepper-Smith, an economist at DataCore Partners Inc. in New Haven, had expected between 1,500 and 2,500 lost jobs in September.
"Well, I guess I got blown out of the water," Klepper-Smith said. "This speaks volumes about the depth and duration of this recession. It's the harsh reality."
Klepper-Smith said the number of construction jobs was up because of spending on projects funded by federal stimulus money. Employment in education was down because the public sector is now starting to follow the lead of downsizing by private business, he said.
Klepper-Smith said he now foresees Connecticut losing 100,000 jobs as a result of the recession.
The report from the state Department of Labor was expected to show a continued trend toward recovery, with modest job losses and a steady jobless rate. Instead, steep losses in education, administrative work, retail trade, transportation and utilities paced a month that harkened back to the huge declines of last winter.
Job losses for August were also revised upward, to 4,800 from a previously reported total of 3,700.
Connecticut remains well below the national unemployment rate of 9.8 percent, but the increase in September, three-tenths of 1 percent, is considered large.
Salvatore DiPillo, the state's labor statisitics supervisor, noted that the unemployment rate is now at a 33-year high, But he added, "There is a bright spot, with construction adding 1,200 jobs -- the largest monthly gain in nearly two years of job losses."
Another potential bright spot comes from the jump in the unemployment rate. Because the three-month average of the rate now stands at 8.1 percent, Connecticut is expected to qualify for seven weeks of extended benefits for unemployed workers. The federal government must still make the final determination.
About 16,000 unemployed workers could be eligible for those benefits, the labor department said.
States must have an unemployment rate that averages at least 8 percent over three months to qualify for the benefits.
Any single month's data is inexact, and subject to large revisions, but the downward trend remains clear in the data. For the 12 months ending in September, the state lost 76,300 jobs, or 4.5 percent of its total -- about the same decline as in the nation. The unemployment rate in september, 2008 was 6 percent.
Since peaking in March, 2008, the state's economy has lost 86,800 jobs.
The construction industry, which has lost 19.5 percent of its jobs in the state despite September's gains, remains the largest percentage loser, followed by administration and business services support jobs.
Health care and social assistance, along with arts, entertainment and recreation, are flat from one year ago, the best performers by industry. Health jobs had been growing through most of the recession, until a few months ago.
Donald L. Klepper-Smith, an economist at DataCore Partners Inc. in New Haven, had expected between 1,500 and 2,500 lost jobs in September.
"Well, I guess I got blown out of the water," Klepper-Smith said. "This speaks volumes about the depth and duration of this recession. It's the harsh reality."
Klepper-Smith said the number of construction jobs was up because of spending on projects funded by federal stimulus money. Employment in education was down because the public sector is now starting to follow the lead of downsizing by private business, he said.
Klepper-Smith said he now foresees Connecticut losing 100,000 jobs as a result of the recession.
The New World Order is Running the show.
pistolpetect (10/20/2009, 11:24 PM )