Connecticut is getting $58.6 million from Uncle Sam to put into its rapidly depleting unemployment insurance trust fund.
Gov. M. Jodi Rell said today the last chunk of the $87 million in federal stimulus aid will keep the state’s jobless workers financially afloat a little while longer.
In recent months, Connecticut has been issuing more than $100 million a month in unemployment benefits. According to the state Department of Labor, nearly 150,000 residents are unemployed and the number of first-time filers for jobless benefits has increased by approximately 45 percent over this time last year.
State unemployment is 7.9 percent.
Barring further rescue, Connecticut’s unemployment insurance fund will be insolvent by yearend, forcing the state to increase taxes on businesses and borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from the federal government to make up for the shortfall.
