Connecticut businesses closed their doors in record numbers in 2008, while the rate of new business starts dropped to the second lowest ever recorded, according to Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz.
Bysiewicz said the dire pace of business closings and openings, coupled with the state’s mounting unemployment rate – now at 7.1 percent – are more proof that Connecticut is mired in a deep economic recession.
According to Bysiewicz, whose office is the state’s chief business registrar, 13,456 businesses filed paperwork in 2008 to dissolve their companies, the highest such annual figure since these numbers were first recorded in 2000. This represents an 18 percent increase in business stops over the 2007 figure, which is the highest year-to-year increase in business closings on record.
Connecticut saw 27,483 new business starts in 2008, the second lowest annual figure on record. Only 2003 saw fewer new business starts. The 2008 figure represents an 11 percent decrease in new business start-ups from 2007, which also posted a record decline in business starts.Â
“Our economic situation is dire,” Bysiewicz said in a statement today. “We need bold action in Hartford and Washington, D.C., to help our struggling businesses stay afloat – particularly the small businesses that form the backbone of our economy.”
“In Connecticut, it is clear we are now facing the headwinds from the national recession as both consumers and businesses have found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet,” economist Don Klepper-Smith, chairman of the Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors said. “The data from the Secretary of the State’s Office confirms that the current economic climate is not conducive to business expansion.”
Klepper-Smith said that, based on job losses and other leading indicators, the national recession is likely to continue through the first half of 2009. He said business confidence and total non-farm employment will be two key indicators to watch.
