Connecticut Loses More Jobs In August

Connecticut lost jobs once again in August, as more census workers were let go, and the state’s unemployment rate ticked up over 9% once again. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

The government sector lost the most jobs in August, down almost 3,000, due in large part to the end of temporary work for the census bureau. Private employers did add jobs in the aggregate over the month, but at a low rate – up just less than 2,000 positions.

The state’s unemployment rate went from 8.9% in July to 9.1%. It was the second month of net losses in Connecticut’s job market, and Peter Gioia, chief economist at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association says there’s just not enough growth in economic activity to support a significant number of new jobs.

“We really need somewhere north of 3% GDP on a sustained basis for us to see meaningful job gains, and I think what we will see when the figures come out is somewhere between one and three quarter and two and a quarter GDP for this quarter, and that’s sort of reflecting itself in what we’re seeing here in these job numbers.”

Ironically, the figures came out on the same day that the National Bureau of Economic Research revealed that the country officially came out of the recession more than a year ago, in June of 2009.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.