45°
The unemployment rate dropped from 7.2 percent in January to 7 percent in February, the lowest unemployment rate since January 2009, the Connecticut Department of Labor said. The unemployment rate was 7.9 percent a year ago.
“February’s job report seemed to confirm that weather was partly responsible for January’s sharp decline as we saw recovery in several of the industries that had stumbled,” said Andy Condon, director of the office of research at the labor department. “The continued decline in Connecticut’s unemployment rate, driven by growing household employment, signals that we continue on the path of job recovery.”
The national unemployment rate is 6.7 percent, and the difference is likely due to the margin of error in the state survey, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the federal agency that manages the data in this report.
The number of jobs in the state is up 10,300 compared with February 2013, a growth rate two and a half times slower than the nation’s job growth.
Connecticut has recovered 59,500 positions, or nearly half of the 119,100 jobs that were lost in the state in the March 2008 to February 2010 employment downturn in the recession.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Norwalk and receive free news updates.
