CT Unemployment Rate Around 17 Percent: DOL

CONNECTICUT — The state’s unemployment situation improved in June, but the unemployment rate still remains high during the pandemic.

The state Department of Labor estimates that Connecticut’s unemployment rate is around 16 to 17 percent for mid-June. The official unemployment rate is 9.8 percent. The discrepancy is due to challenges collecting data from a June Current Population Survey and other factors, according to DOL.

“The pandemic continues to have a major impact on business, industry, and the workforce and is resulting in the continued extraordinarily high volume of unemployment applications—we’ve received the equivalent of five years of claims in five months,” said DOL Commissioner Kurt Westby.

Connecticut DOL has received more than 708,000 unemployment applications and has processed nearly 685,820. The department is backlogged to applications from June 30.

Around 300,000 weekly claims are filed between federal and state unemployment programs.

Connecticut has paid out $1.35 billion in unemployment benefits and $2.46 billion in federal benefits since the pandemic began. The state’s unemployment trust fund has a balance of $122 million and funds haven’t been borrowed to cover benefits, but it might become necessary, DOL said in a statement.

The state now had a consumer contact center funded by the federal government that helps modernize the unemployment application process, including getting questions about applying answered.