CT casino towns rolling snake eyes in coronavirus economy
The eastern Connecticut towns surrounding the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun casinos have absorbed the biggest brunt of layoffs in the early weeks of the coronavirus pandemic, with a third or more of Norwich residents filing initial claims for unemployment benefits.
The Connecticut Department of Labor published detailed jobless claims data this week for cities and towns statewide, dating back to before the March 10 emergency order by Gov. Ned Lamont that restricted or closed outright a large chunk of the state economy.
The town-by-town data is preliminary, with DOL still processing claims that have been filed since the end of March and weeding out some that represent duplicate submissions. DOL began processing applications for unemployment assistance from self-employed individuals on Thursday, which could lead to an additional spike in overall numbers. The U.S. Department of Labor is scheduled to give its latest employment estimates next Friday.
“The best way I can look at this right now, is that ... if I’m a lifeguard at Hammonasset Beach used to seeing two-tothree-foot waves, when we see a wave coming in that’s 20 feet, we have no perspective,” said Donald Klepper-Smith, an economist with DataCore Partners in New Haven. “If we talk about a job loss of 2 million being the greatest that we’ve had, a 20 million loss is an economic tsunami the likes of which we have not seen.”
The unemployment claims suggest that if eastern Connecticut has yet to see coronavirus cases spike, it is incurring a bigger blow economically as ground zero for job losses. Of the state’s municipalities where DOL has recorded the largest numbers of jobless claims as a percentage of their working populations, 11 of those 13 towns are located within 13 miles of Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.
Multiple cities and towns in the Naugatuck River valley have seen job losses slightly elevated among residents, as well. DOL has received unemployment claims from Ansonia, Derby and Waterbury that equate to between 14 percent and 17 percent of residents holding jobs on the eve of the crisis, with those percentages likely to inflate further as claims processing continues.