State Labor Department reported today that Connecticut gained 5,400 jobs in February.
Here’s an excerpt from the department’s report. Read the rest of the findings tonight and in the morning in the business section.
February’s gain brings the state’s nonfarm
employment to 1,623,200. On a seasonally adjusted basis, this represents an increase of 28,900 jobs over the
year, when nonfarm employment totaled 1,594,300. The state’s unemployment rate remained at 9.0 percent, which
is just above the national rate of 8.9 percent.
“While Connecticut’s unemployment rate has remained at, or around nine percent for the past year, other economic
indicators have shown improvement in that time,” said Labor Statistics Supervisor Salvatore DiPillo. “Since the
beginning of 2010, initial claims for unemployment insurance are down nine percent; private sector employees, on
average are working longer hours; and if these trends hold up, we’ve recovered nearly 25 percent of the jobs we
lost during the course of the recession.”
Financial Mines
Archive for March, 2011
Conn. added 5,400 jobs in February
Malloy finds Eldorado of tax policy?
Gov. Malloy might have found the mythical Eldorado of tax policy — a way to raise taxes on a business without actually raising costs to consumers.
Malloy wants to tax coal, nuclear and oil-fueled power plants.
Immediately, the thought is that these generators will just pass on the cost to consumers, therby driving up rates.
Problem is, Connecticut’s and New England’s energy market isn’t so simple that a tax on some energy companies would automatically lead to higher rates.
You see, nuclear and coal in particular have, for the last decade, enjoyed the benefits of a competitive auction-rate market place.
The way the region’s energy system works is that every day power plants, called generators, bid to provide power for the grid. The last price accepted to fill the necessary amount of power sets the price for all the generators that are accepted.
For example, say the grid needs 3,000 megawatts. A nuclear plant bids zero dollars to pump 2,000 megawatts into the grid, a coal plant bids $20 per MW to provide 500 megawatts and a gas-fired plant bids $50 per MW and ships 500 MWs.
The nuclear and coal plant both would get the $50 MW price in this situation.
Ellen Foley, a spokeswoman for grid operator ISO-New England, said it is typical for a nuclear plant and other baseload operations to bid zero, but she said that’s generally because those plants have already sold their power by contract to another enttity. She said ISO does not know how much these plants are getting for that power, but she noted they do not get paid twice.
Foley said generally natural gas sets the price of wholesale electricity in the state, though it’s not impossible for oil to set the price in periods of high demand.
Oil makes up less than 1 percent of the power produced in New England.
How a tax would impact ptivate contracts for nuclear or coal derived power is clear, but it might trim the profit margin for those generators.
And there is a question over whether the state can single out power plants by fuel type, which would probably lead to a legal challenge.
And a key argument against the tax is that it could create even more dependence on natural gas in the state.
Foley noted that natural gas sets the wholesale clearing price because more than 40 percent of the region’s power is derived from it.
And Connecticut prices are already very high.
According to the U.S. Energy Department, Connecticut has the second highest energy prices in the nation at more than 17 cents per kilowatt hour, which is almost double the 8.56 cents they pay in North Carolina. Only Hawaii pays more for electricity in Connecticut.
Phishers use survey as bait for scam
Berlin-based Achieve Financial Credit Union confirmed on Monday an email blast that went out this morning offering $50 to take survey is a phishing scam.
The email asks credit union members to click a link, and if the link does not work, to paste a url address into your browser.
Generally, the thief behind this scam is attempting to get your account number to pillage it.
When receiving emails like this, people should contact their financial institution to report it.
Don’t click on the link or reply to the email.
Wells Fargo Wagon is now in town
Wells Fargo has finally erased the Wachovia name from the state cutting into the hegemony over Connecticut banking held by North Carolina. Wells Fargo, the California-based bank, officially changed the name of Wachovia branches in Connecticut this week.
Wells Fargo got to Connecticut by taking Wachovia in the financial collapse of 2008. At the time, Citi, itself in massive trouble, had entered a bid to take Wachovia when Wells Fargo stepped in and snatched it away.
North Carolina-based Wachovia itself had been in Connecticut since 2001, when it merged with another North Carolina bank, First Union. Wachovia blitzed the state with advertisements explaining how to pronounce the name of the bank.
First Union got into Connecticut in 1995 when it acquired the old Stamford Northeast Bancorp.
While Wells Fargo has owned Wachovia since 2009, the change in name leaves only Bank of America as a major North Carolina bnak in the state. Though it is the biggest bank in Connecticut. Bank of America acquired Fleet Bank in 2003 to enter the Connecticut market.
