Connecticut Unemployment Rate Holds Steady

HARTFORD (AP) –– Unemployment in Connecticut remained unchanged at 3.6 percent in September, the state Labor Department reported Tuesday.

The number of nonfarm jobs declined by 6,500 since August, to about 1.7 million.

Joblessness in Connecticut was 1.3 percentage points below the national rate.

The slight drop in jobs was not tied directly to last month’s terrorist attacks, which have been blamed for accelerating economic troubles nationwide, said Salvatore DiPillo, labor statistics supervisor at the Labor Department.

Job losses last month were in manufacturing, construction, and wholesale and retail, sectors that began a decline even before the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Average hourly earnings of $16.22 were virtually unchanged from August and up 52 cents from a year ago. The average weekly wage of $689.35 was up $9.31 from August and a $17.39 increase since September 2000.