Westport-Area Unemployment Rate Improves: Latest Data

WESTPORT, CT — The national job report for September was a disappointment to economists, who had expected more than the 194,000 non-farm jobs that were added during the month.

The September jobs report was even worse than that in August, when 366,000 jobs were created, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The national unemployment rate dropped 0.4 percentage points to 4.8 percent despite the September disappointment.

The latest available local unemployment figures are for August; that rate improved since July in the Westport area and continues to be lower than it was the beginning of the pandemic.

The Fairfield County unemployment rate was 6.0 percent in August, down from 6.8 percent in July. That reflected some improvement from August 2020, when the unemployment rate stood at 8.4 percent.

The August unemployment rate in Fairfield County was lower than the Connecticut rate of 6.1 percent, according to the latest local figures from the BLS.

Nationally, 17.4 million jobs have been added back to the economy since April 2020. Still, the country is down 5 million positions (3.3 percent) from pre-pandemic levels.

The jobs report was likely affected negatively by multiple crises, according to The Washington Post. Parts of the country were reeling from Hurricane Ida's devastating damage. Wildfires in California have also caused business disruption. Coronavirus cases were also much higher in early to mid-September than they are now.

Average hourly wages continued to climb in September, with a 17-cent gain to $30.85. Hourly wages have grown for six months in a row as employers look to fill vacant positions.

Employees have been more willing than ever to leave their employers. A record 4.3 million employees quit their jobs in August, according to the BLS.

The leisure/hospitality and professional/business service industries led the way for September job gains with 74,000 and 60,000 jobs, respectively. Retail trade jobs increased by 56,000 jobs after two months of little change.

Editor's note: This post was automatically generated using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program. Please report any errors or other feedback to content@patch.com.