The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Report: 11K more jobless in Conn.
The U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday reported a slight increase in initial claims for unemployment assistance by Connecticut workers — to 11,050 from 10,965 the previous week.
The report is the first under Marty Walsh, President Joe Biden’s nominee as labor secretary.
Of the more than 11,000 people in Connecticut to file initial claims for unemployment in the second week of January, close to 500 were independent workers who are allowed to do so under federal stimulus programs that bolster unemployment compensation and eligibility.
Entering this year, 16 million Americans were getting federal support in various unemployment programs. Biden has proposed a $1.9 trillion package that would maintain elevated pay through the remainder of this winter, as states await mass shipments of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Neither the president-elect nor I propose this relief package without an appreciation for the country’s debt burden,” said Janet Yellen, Biden’s nominee to replace Steve Mnuchin as treasury secretary, speaking Tuesday to U.S. senators during a confirmation hearing. “But right now with interest rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big. In the long run, I believe the benefits will far outweigh the costs, especially if we care about helping people who’ve been struggling for a very long time.”
In the past two weeks, Connecticut employers have posted more than 11,000 open jobs on the Indeed.com jobs board, including thousands of retail and restaurant jobs at employers like Autozone, Chili’s, Cumberland Farms, Lowe’s, Petco and Whole Foods to name a few. And YaleNew Haven Health, Stamford Health and Nuvance Health are among hospital systems and clinics that have hundreds more positions available on Indeed and other jobs boards.
Connecticut entered 2021 with 197,000 residents getting assistance as tracked by the U.S. Department of Labor, with some payments interrupted in late December before Congress reached accord on a $900 billion stimulus. As of last fall, the state Department of Labor was picking up some of the wages for 24,300 people at more than 1,300 companies statewide under the state’s Shared Work program, as an alternative to job cuts, with companies able to get up to six months of coverage.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Small Business Administration opened up the newest round of the Paycheck Protection Program to all commercial banks, which are processing PPP loans that can be forgiven if companies do not lay off workers for employers that have seen revenue decline at least 25 percent.
Separately Tuesday, the federal labor department awarded $10 million to Capital Workforce Partners in Hartford, to train workers for jobs that companies typically fill through the H-1B visa program allowing them to recruit overseas for information technology jobs and others. DOL awarded $145 million nationally.
Walsh now brings a new perspective to DOL. Surviving cancer as a child to become a construction union leader, Walsh has touted several initiatives the city of Boston implemented during his two terms as mayor, including arranging free salary negotiation workshops for women and the creation of the SmartHub startup group that has enrolled nearly 2,800 companies in growth mode.
Last spring and summer, the state Department of Labor got bogged down with long delays and complaints after claimants flooded DOL with claims for
assistance. DOL brought a new system online in August that had been scheduled to go online this year, and has been adding staff to call centers. This month, DOL debuted a new online feature that allows people to book a time for staff to call them, rather than waiting on hold for assistance.
Naugatuck painting contractor Frank Hall was among those who experienced a hiccup in weekly payments as a result of the December stimulus package
negotiations.
“It’s been going fine now but in the beginning the system was plagued with issues,” Hall stated via email. “I started to get payment after waiting months, emailing DOL many times and ... calling off the hook. It was funny though that once politicians started to inquire about my account, (that’s) when I started to get some kind of movement.”