Report on poverty in Connecticut

As of 2010, more than 720,000 people lived at or near poverty in Connecticut, according to a new report from the Connecticut Association for Community Action.

Four factors contributed significantly to the growth of poverty in Connecticut during the 20-year period the report covers:

            • Connecticut employment has stagnated. Since 1990, there have only been 11 months during which the number of employed Connecticut residents exceeded the number employed in 1990.

            • Connecticut had the worst job creation record in the nation over the past 20 years. At the same time, the state’s working age population grew by 120,000 people, driving unemployment rates up—particularly in poverty-sensitive communities.

            • Connecticut missed out on the technology-related job growth in the 1990’s, which deprived it of the foundations on which much employment at the national level grew after 2002.

            • Connecticut has not effectively created or supported educational opportunities or developed other conditions that support job creation.

Source: CAFCA, 1/25/13, CT Poverty