With $300 in weekly pay ending, unemployment remains stubborn
With time running out before unemployment payments dial back down to pre-pandemic levels, new federal data has yet to suggest any burst of hiring is underway in Connecticut.
Unemployment filings eroded stubbornly in Connecticut entering August, despite employers listing nearly 90,000 openings last month according to The Conference Board.
Over the final two weeks of July, just 3,500 people came off unemployment insurance to leave the total receiving aid at just under 129,000 beneficiaries.
Employers say they continue to see evidence that some workers are riding out the summer on enhanced benefits that include an extra $300 weekly, a boost that will not continue beyond Saturday, Sept. 4. The Connecticut Department of Revenue Services continues to offer a $1,000 bonus to people who take jobs after an extended period of unemployment, with details online at portal.ct.gov/drs.
“A [bottling] plant that we use in New York can’t staff a second and third shift,” said Norm Snyder, CEO of the Norwalk-based Reed’s which sells ginger beer and other “craft” sodas. “Knock on wood, we’ve got good employees that are dedicated and we’ve had no issues with [departures]. It’s been challenging as we grow to add people ... because of COVID.”
The start of the new school year could remove one complicating factor, for any parents that had difficulties arranging for child care in the summer months. And another major program ends in September — the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance package that allowed self-employed contractors to receive jobless aid for the first time.
But the delta variant is raising alarms, with the Connecticut Department of Public Health reporting as of Thursday more than 7,100 “breakthrough” cases in which those who have completed their vaccination doses have contracted COVID-19. DPH notes that amounts to just 0.32 percent of those in Connecticut who have been vaccinated.
While some Connecticut job openings require professional certifications — more than 4,000 openings are available statewide for registered nurses according to The Conference Board — many more do not, including the retail sector where between counter help and management had nearly 5,000 jobs for the taking in Connecticut.
Abercrombie & Fitch is among the retailers hiring in Connecticut with nearly three dozen openings across stores in Norwalk, Danbury, New Haven, Milford, Fairfield, Trumbull, Waterbury and Farmington — many of them for manager-in-training roles.
The company is fresh off a new “Social Tourist” marketing initiative with its Hollister brand that features the Norwalk TikTok star Charli D’Amelio.
“We’ve been pleased with the U.S. back-to-school season to date,” said Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Fran Horowitz, speaking Thursday on a conference call. “We will focus on controlling what we can control.”