Buckle up, the unemployment rollercoaster is still a bumpy one. People in Connecticut are still losing their jobs and unemployment has reached 7.5 percent.
We’ve lost another 7,100 jobs since February, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor. When the figures came out a month ago, the jobless rate was 7.4 percent.
But, wait. It’s not as dire as it sounds, according to the state wonks at the Department of Labor with the morbid job of keeping track of how many people have been told “it’s not you, it’s the economy.”
Even though 22,500 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of 2009, it’s less than the 25,000 who lost their jobs during the last quarter of 2008.
And there’s the ever chipper fact that the state's unemployment rate is still lower than the 8.5 national jobless rate.
We just need to hang in there, the DOL tells us. There are some positive signs, both nationally and here, that indicate we are beginning to see a bottoming out of this recession, state Labor Department officials said.
Of Connecticut’s 10 major industry sectors, employment increased in four. Manufacturing is still suffering though, with the worst monthly loss in employment since 1991, dropping 4,000.
Here’s how it looks in different areas of the state:
- Danbury: 6.8 percent unemployed, the lowest in the state
- Bridgeport-Stamford: 7.2 percent
- New Haven: 7.6 percent
- Waterbury: 10.5 percent, the highest rate
