Connecticut jobless claims per 100,000 highest in the nation

Even before the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released its underwhelming August jobs report Friday morning, the state of Connecticut already had the dubious distinction of having the largest amount of unemployment claims in the most recent week.

According to WalletHub, Connecticut leads the country with 317 jobless claims per 100,000 people in the labor force as of Aug. 25. Rounding out the top 3 of states are Tennessee (163) and District of Columbia (158). Connecticut’s change in unemployment claims from the previous week was 89.26%. And its unemployment rate is at 3.8%.

In Connecticut, change in unemployment claims compared to the same week in 2024 rose 103.9% — among the top two states in the nation.

Meanwhile, the BLS August jobs report showed that the unemployment rate rose to its highest level in nearly four years at 4.3%. And the economy added just 22,000 jobs last month.

U.S. unemployment has experienced fluctuations and a small overall rise over the past year, according to WalletHub. Most recently, the job market continued to falter, with new unemployment claims increasing by 3.5% week-over-week on Aug. 25. There are currently 7.2 million Americans unemployed in total. WalletHub also reported:

• The following states had unemployment claims last week that were higher than in the previous week: Tennessee, Connecticut, Nebraska, Mississippi, Alaska, North Dakota, Kansas, Massachusetts, Illinois, South Dakota, New York, Oregon, Maine, Iowa, Delaware, Michigan, Arkansas, Virginia, California, Maryland, West Virginia, Washington, Colorado, Idaho and the District of Columbia.
• While there was an increase in weekly claims nationally, 29 states – including Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and North Dakota – had unemployment claims last week that were better than the same week last year.