MIDDLETOWN, CT — Middletown's unemployment rate rose to 4.8 percent in September, up from 4.7 percent in August, according to data released Monday by the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The city's rate remained below Connecticut's, which held at 5.1 percent for a second straight month. The state's rate has now topped the national rate of 4.2 percent for nine consecutive months.
Of Middletown's estimated labor force of 26,831 residents in September, 25,534 were employed and 1,297 were unemployed, the data show. That is 74 more unemployed residents than in August. The August estimates, published last month by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, counted 1,223 unemployed out of a labor force of 26,266.
The town figures come from the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program and are not seasonally adjusted. On that same unadjusted basis, the statewide rate in September was 5.1 percent, with 96,521 of Connecticut's 1,907,124 labor force participants out of work.
Of the state's 169 towns, 117 had a lower rate than Middletown's 4.8 percent and 47 had a higher one.
Among its neighbors, Middletown's rate was higher than in Middlefield (4.5 percent), East Hampton (4.4 percent), Cromwell (4.1 percent), Berlin (4.1 percent), Haddam (4.1 percent), Portland (3.8 percent) and Durham (3.3 percent) but lower than in Meriden (6 percent).
Statewide, town rates ranged from 2.8 percent in Warren to 8.5 percent in Waterbury.
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