There was a large leap in unemployment in Connecticut during the last week of August, according to a report from WalletHub. While unemployment increased across the nation, Connecticut had both the second-highest jump in unemployment insurance claims that week and week-over-week increase in claims out of all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Presently, there are 317 unemployment claims for every 100,000 people in Connecticut’s workforce. Not only is this the highest rate of number of claims out of any state in the country, but it is also 103% higher than the number of unemployment claims made in the last week of August 2024.
This year, there was an 89% difference between unemployment claims in the second-to-last week of August and those claimed in the last week of August, WalletHub found.
The average week-over-week increase in unemployment claims during the last week of August was 3.5%. One state had a higher week-over-week change in unemployment claims than Connecticut: Tennessee, where claims increased by 103%. The average was dragged down by states like Kentucky and New Hampshire, which saw a -64% and a -35% change in unemployment claims, respectively.
There is a larger trend at play: blue states in the country are seeing the highest increases in unemployment claims, WalletHub reports.
But these week-over-week changes in insurance claims don’t paint the entire picture.
There are 32,000 people in Connecticut who are on continued unemployment claims as of Aug. 23, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL). CTDOL also reported that there were 4,000 new claims made between Aug. 17 and 24.
In Connecticut, the unemployment rate is significantly lower than the national average. The most recent state-level job reports, which reviewed July’s employment data, indicate that the unemployment rate in Connecticut is around 3.8%.
There are currently 7.4 million unemployed Americans, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). Nationwide, there is a civilian unemployment rate of 4.3%—the highest it has been in four years.
On top of that, there are 4.7 million people who would prefer full-time employment but are only employed part-time. They are not factored into the overall unemployment rate.
Despite seeing the largest decrease in unemployment claims in the last week of August, Kentucky still has a much higher unemployment rate than Connecticut. As of July, Kentucky’s unemployment rate stood at 4.9%.
The CTDOL plans to release preliminary unemployment data from August on Sept. 18.
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