The unemployment rate in Derby is the highest in the city in 13 years, according to data released by the state Department of Labor Thursday.
Oxford has the lower Valley’s lowest unemployment rate.
Seymour saw the sharpest increase in the unemployment rate between November and December 2009, according to the data.
Derby: 10.3 percent
Derby’s unemployment rate in December was 10.3 percent — the highest rate in the towns of the lower Naugauck Valley.
According to the data, 719 people were unemployed in the city in December. The local work force was 7,013 in December.
The unemployment rate in Derby was at its highest level since July of 1996, when it was at 9.4 percent.
Derby’s unemployment rate increased slightly (.4 percent) from November 2009, when 700 people were out of work in the city.
The data released Thursday showed the state’s unemployment rate at 8.9 percent, up from 8.2 percent in November.
Ansonia: 9.5 percent
Ansonia’s unemployment rate in December was 9.5 percent, up .5 percent from November 2009. The data shows 957 people were unemployed in December, out of a work force totaling 9,068.
In September, Ansonia’s unemployment rate hit a high of 9.8 percent — its highest of 2009. It was 9.7 percent in February, March and October. The city had its lowest unemployment rate in November, at 9 percent.
Seymour: 8.2 percent
Seymour had the biggest jump — .7 percent — in its unemployment rate between November and December, when the rate increased from 7.5 percent to 8.2 percent. In real numbers, the number of people out of work increased from 702 in November to 760 in December.
The November rate was the lowest of 2009 in Seymour. The December rate was the highest of the year.
Shelton: 7.3 percent
The unemployment rate was 7.3 percent in Shelton in December 2009, up .5 percent from November.
The data shows 1,673 people unemployed in December — an increase of 83 people.
Unemployment in Shelton ranged from 6.8 percent in April, May and November, to 7.4 percent in October. Shelton has a local work force of 23,049.
Oxford: 6.7 percent
Oxford ended 2009 with an unemployment rate of 6.7 percent of its 7,425 workers. That’s 498 people without jobs, up .4 percent from November.
Oxford’s unemployment rate peaked at 6.9 percent in September.
It has the lowest unemployment rate of the five towns covered by the Valley Indy.
