The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Bridgeport and Hartford lag while Danbury, Norwalk ahead on job recovery
New data from the Connecticut Department of Labor suggests the state’s largest cities may see a slower “snap back” in employment, as businesses reopen in the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic.
The DOL reports updated figures weekly for both new unemployment benefit claims and continuing claims — the latter giving a glimpse as to how quickly employers are bringing people back to work.
Hartford and Bridgeport have seen the smallest percentages of city residents getting off unemployment compensation since late April, when the number of people receiving jobless benefits appeared to peak at more than 309,000 statewide.
Gov. Ned Lamont has set June 17 for the next phase of Connecticut’s reopening plan, with indoor dining, fitness facilities and theaters among the business activities allowed to resume, with precautions.
On Thursday, Lamont indicated the eastern Connecticut casinos that have reopened represent canaries in the coalmine for coronavirus diagnoses in the hospitality industry, as patrons and employees resume activities with safeguards in place. Eastern Connecticut towns have not seen any spike in diagnosed coronavirus cases a week after the casinos kicked back into operation.
“It’s a little bit of a waitand-see right now,” Lamont said Monday during a daily press conference. “But I think the prospects are — fingers crossed — so far, so good.”
Among larger Connecticut cities, Danbury and Norwalk have fared best in recovering jobs, with an 8-point decline in the numbers of residents getting benefits two weeks after unemployment peaked in late April; and both at more than 35 percent improved through the end of May. As is the case for other municipalities, the latter figure will likely come down significantly as the DOL continues its processing of claims filed in the most recent weeks, but with the state hoping for a summer rebound with the reopening of businesses.
Among Connecticut municipalities with at least 25,000 residents, New Milford has enjoyed the best recovery with a 14-percent reduction in the two weeks after the April peak, outpacing even affluent Gold Coast towns like Greenwich, Darien and Westport where less than 10 percent of unemployed residents got back onto the job.
New Haven, Waterbury and Bloomfield were the only other municipalities to rank in the bottom 10 for re-employment of residents as of both the second week of May and at month’s end, with the latter figure still subject to revision.
Connecticut’s network of American Job Centers have yet to receive word from the Connecticut Department of Labor on when they can resume walk-in job placement counseling, with fullservice locations located in Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Hamden, Waterbury and Montville. With roughly 200,000 people getting unemployment compensation entering June, appointments may be hard to come by in the early going.
“Communication will be key,” said Tom Long, senior vice president of communications for The Workplace, which hosts American Job Centers services in Bridgeport. “People have different ways of wanting to respond — some people feel they need to interact with a person, one on one, and others feel more comfortable with technology. We’ll have to do the best we can.”