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The numbers of businesses shutting their doors in Connecticut is at an all-time high. New figures from the Secretary of the State’s office show that nine-and-a-half thousand companies have failed so far this year. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

Businesses that dissolve must file papers with the Secretary of the State’s office, and the latest figures show a record number of shut-downs for the third quarter. The 2,600 businesses that failed represent a nearly seven percent increase in shut downs from the same quarter last year. But there’s also evidence of turnover, with business starts on the increase, up almost two-and-a-half percent on the third quarter of 2008.

Secretary of the State Susan Byciewicz says this may reflect the high unemployment rolls.

"There’s evidence that some of the many unemployed people that have lost their jobs have started new businesses as a way to support their families, and we wish them well with that, because 90 percent of the new jobs created in our state come from small businesses that have started up. So there is a sign of optimism."

Byciewicz has called for more state action to contain healthcare and energy costs as a way to take the burden off newly started small businesses.