Monroe Unemployment Up in January But Down Year-Over-Year

Monroe's January unemployment rate — 6.3 percent — is just a touch over the 2013 average but well below the 7.4 percent recorded at the same time last year.

According to the Connecticut Department of Labor, Monroe averaged 6.2 percent unemployment in 2013, with lows of 5.2 percent in November and December.

The town's total labor force increased slightly from December to January, however almost all of those persons were unemployed, raising the rate by 1.1 percentage points.

This represents a 21 percent rise in unemployment month-over-month but a 15 percent decline year-over-year.

State, National Unemployment Rate

In Connecticut, the pool of jobless people jumped up to 7.2 percent in January from 6.8 percent overall in December. Nationally, the United State's unemployment rate for the same time period is 6.6 percent.

A PDF of the state's January unemployment report for all towns and cities in Connecticut is shared above along with this post.