New Business Registrations Now Passing 2019 Numbers

As Connecticut businesses begin to open their doors, new business registrations in the state have been steadily rising for the past 12 weeks. When comparing data from 2019 to 2020, new business registrations are higher now than in the same week of 2019.

The numbers did not always appear promising. Our April 14, 2020 analysis painted a grim picture, showing a stark drop of new business registrations from early in the pandemic when compared to the Great Recession. Since then, we have been monitoring business starts, which refer to the number of applications received by the Secretary of State’s Office for new business formations.

Though most weeks have lagged behind 2019, with Week 12 (the week of March 22, 2020) being the lowest, 2020 registrations began passing 2019 in the past few weeks. You can see the progression in the chart below.

Non-seasonally adjusted new businesses decreased more in the Northeast than any other region, according to weekly Business Formation Statistics data released by the Census Bureau. While our year-to-year registrations are still not as high as other regions, we have started to pass our 2019 registrations.

To learn more about changes in business registrations, head to our Connecticut Business Data portal. You can also explore our weekly analysis of unemployment in Connecticut and other data related to Covid-19, including our Covid-19 dashboard. 

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