Connecticut unemployment reached 7.5 percent in March despite a slower pace of job losses from a month earlier, the state Labor Department said today.
February unemployment in the state was 7.4 percent. One year ago, state unemployment was an adjusted 5.3Â percent. The U.S. jobless rate rose to 8.5 percent last month.
Connecticut’s nonfarm employment in March was 1,651,400, a drop of 7,100 jobs from the revised February figure of 1,658,500, the agency said.
“Job losses in March showed a moderation in the rate of decline compared to the February figures,” said State Labor Economist John Tirinzonie. “While employment for the first quarter of 2009 dropped by 22,500, this was less than the 25,000 that occurred during the last quarter of 2008.”
Those two quarters combined account for 82 percent of all the jobs lost since Connecticut employment peaked in March 2008, the state said.
Four of the state’s five major labor market areas lost jobs between February and March: Hartford, New Haven, and Bridgeport-Stamford. Employment in Danbury was relatively unchanged. Â
