CT unemployment rate rises, officials stumped

HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) -- The State Labor Department says they are 'stumped' over the most recent numbers; the Connecticut unemployment rate jumped to almost a full point above the national average last month, but almost no one believes it.

On any given day there are always plenty of people using the resources at one of the state's job centers, filling out job applications online and composing resumes.

"I lost my job June 30th of this year, they cut back," said Abbey DeJesus, of Hartford, "and my job's very hard to get, it takes two months, sometimes even three to get, so right now I'm desperate to just get anything."

Last week, it was announced that Connecticut's unemployment rate had jumped from 8 1/2 to 9 percent, much higher than the national average of 8.1 percent.

Everyone from the Governor on down in state government has been questioning that 9 percent unemployment number because other numbers just don't seem to add up that way.

For one thing, the state is now processing about 90,000 unemployment claims per week. At the height of the down turn they were processing 170,000 per week.

Claims are down and income tax receipts are up, indicating more people are working and paying taxes. The half point increase doesn't match their own payroll jobs surveys, which indicate job growth has slowed, but not that much.

"That's almost record levels for one month movement in the state and it's not supported by anything we generally follow that's going on in the economy," said Andy Condon, CT Labor Department.

Pete Gioia is an economist for the state's largest business organization, and he says things aren't great because of the indecision in Washington.

"The more important thing is that the trend line is not going in the right direction," Gioia said.

"But do you believe the 9 percent figure," asked News 8's Mark Davis.

"No, no, I think it's less than that," Gioia said.

Gioia expects a revised number, but says until some hard decisions are made in Washington about taxes and spending, the trend will not favor big job growth.