John Tirinzonie, Connecticut's state labor economist, wasn't surprised to see that Darien topped the list. The Wall Street crisis puts stress on commuters in affluent Fairfield County, which includes Darien, Westport, New Canaan, Stamford, and Greenwich (home of former Lehman CEO Dick Fuld), he said. It remains unclear how the merger of Bank of America and Merrill Lynch will impact the thousands of employees who work at both banks in Hartford.What seems clear is that the financial turmoil is already hurting the local economy. Connecticut's unemployment rate jumped from 5.8% in July to 6.5% in August, he said.
"The problem is when you start to have people making good money who are commuting to New York and lose their job, they're going to be in a very competitive market now with people in the same position. If they're able to get a job … it may not be the same level and income they're used to. And that affects the state in terms of tax revenue."
No comments:
Post a Comment