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More Connecticut businesses closed down in the second quarter this year, than any period in the last 8 years.  At the same time, the state is experiencing a huge fall off in new business starts.

New figures from the Secretary of the State’s office show that 3,000 businesses shut their doors in the three months through May this year.  Meanwhile, the first six months of 2008 have shown the largest decline in new start-ups in eight years, with fourteen hundred fewer starts than in the same period last year.

Some economists believe the figures contribute to the view that the state entered a recession in the 4th quarter of last year.  Secretary of the State Susan Byciewicz says the numbers indicate it’s time for urgent action.

"We’re going to have to have solutions both at the state level and the federal level to address the energy price issue and also to deal with health insurance, which are two things that are probably the greatest cost for businesses."

However there’s still little consensus about what measures will truly help on those issues – a move to open the state health plan to small businesses, which Byciewicz supported was opposed by the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, and eventually vetoed by Governor Rell.