Connecticut Labor Markets

The U.S. labor markets turned in one of the best monthly performances of the last 12 months in February, adding 236,000 jobs and paring the unemployment rate to 7.7 percent in a report Friday that heightens concerns about the divide between a sluggish...

AmeriPride Services, a Minnesota-based commercial laundry chain, will lay off 55 commercial laundry workers May 1 from its Hartford facility, according to a notice filed Friday with the Connecticut Department of Labor. The company will have about 40...

By seizing federal and state income tax refunds, the Connecticut Department of Labor has recovered nearly $4.63 million in unemployment benefits that were wrongly paid to more than 5,000 people. The announcement from the department did not say over...

Metro Hartford and Fairfield County's economies grew faster than 80 percent of cities around the country from 2010 to 2011, the U.S. Department of Commerce reported Friday, but New Haven and New London's economies lagged. The Hartford economy, which...

One of the best experiences of my life was watching Jamie Smith, a young man with autism, leave his routine in Chicago, travel to the Special Olympics World Games in the chaotic Chinese city of Shanghai — and succeed. Jamie's success -- managing in...

It's no mystery when a mystery-shopping job offer asks the prospective shopper to cash a money order and wire most of the money to a third party. It's a scam. An actual mystery-shopping job is much less mysterious: Some retailers hire companies that...

In the end, he decided to pretend. Politicians will do that, trumpet that something is different than we know it to be. It's not what we expect in so many large doses from Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, who revels in his reputation for rude candor. The state's...

TOWNS SEE LOOMING SHORTFALLS By Betsy Gara Town leaders are anxiously crunching numbers as they review Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's proposed budget. Given the size of the budget deficit, the Connecticut Council of Small Towns applauds the intent of the...

Those of you who live in other parts of the country may find it hard to believe that basically Connecticut hasn't created a job in 20 years. I know, I find it hard to believe myself. Apparently, for every job created in the state, one disappears. In other...

The Dec. 14 Newtown school shootings dominated opening day at the state Capitol Wednesday, as lawmakers arrived to face a projected budget deficit of $1 billion in the next fiscal year and Gov. Dannel P. Malloy exhorted them to take action to prevent...

— Governments in nine states have awarded at least $49 million in subsidies in the past five years to gun and ammunition makers whose products are under scrutiny after the school shootings in Newtown. Almost 85 percent of those tax breaks or...

NEW YORK CITY -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc will buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next decade in areas like sporting goods and high-end appliances in what the world's largest retailer called a bid to help boost the U.S. economy. Wal-...