Before I do a recap, I want to share a hopeful tidbit. My friend Tim plays the bagpipes. For the last few years, St. Patrick’s Day (and the weekend) is his favorite time because his band rents a bus and tours pubs across Connecticut.

Suffice to say, there was no pub crawl yesterday.

But after the workday, we got a text. Come to the street at 5:30 p.m. Stay in your car.

And at 5:30 p.m., out waltzed Tim in his full garb playing the bagpipes — at a safe social distancing distance — for neighbors and a few friends.

Really, you couldn’t ask for much more after another tough day for employers and employees.
Late on Tuesday, Connecticut announced that 30,000 unemployment claims had been filed since Friday.

To give some perspective: In January 2020, Connecticut reported nonfarm employment at 1.696M. Extrapolating the numbers a bit, suppose the 30,000 job loss takes us down to 1.666M.

The last time Connecticut had that number was in July of 2014.  Meaning five years of job gains have disappeared in five days.

And we’re not even done with the week.

In case you’re wondering, once we hit 100,000 job losses, that will take us back to the low point of January 2010.

I’m anticipating those numbers to go far higher.

What else should employers in Connecticut be aware of from Tuesday?

Another long day.  Though my friend called it a great day. Why?

It’s probably the best day in the next month.  Stay safe.