Job Openings Jump 26% in January

Connecticut job openings spiked in January, with employers reporting 92,000 open positions, up 26% from the previous month.

New U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show Connecticut was one of only six states to report increased openings for January.

Nationally, job openings grew 3.1% in January, with Connecticut posting the third largest percentage increase after Vermont (31%) and Arizona (29%).

Education and health services—the state’s top jobs sector—accounted for an estimated 19,000 of those openings, with 14,000-plus in each of the professional and business services and trade, transportation, and utilities sectors.

Approximately 5,500 openings are in the manufacturing sector, which has recovered just 54% of pandemic-related job losses as it navigates an aging workforce and a growing skills gap.

Employers have navigated a worker shortage for the past four years, with 54% telling CBIA’s 2024 Survey of Connecticut Businesses that hiring challenges and the state’s high cost of living were the greatest threats to economic growth.

‘Uncertainty’

Connecticut has 31% more job openings than before the pandemic—or 1.4 openings for every unemployed person.

The state’s labor force, which grew by 30,379 over the last 12 months, is only 1.6% above pre-pandemic levels.

CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima called the spike in job openings “surprising,” noting that it was the highest December-January increase in a decade. 

CBIA’s Chris DiPentima said the increase in openings added to the “uncertainty of what will happen with federal economic policies.”

He said the increase added to the “uncertainty of what will happen with federal economic policies,” including the soon-to-be expiring 2017 federal tax cuts that “drove significant hiring, wage increases and investments in 2018.”

“One explanation could be that companies were expecting tariffs and/or reshoring, so they are trying to get ahead of the potential increase in demand by adding jobs and capacity,” he said.

“This is certainly contrary to the qualitative data that we are now seeing that companies are pausing hiring, including the state of Connecticut.”

Job Growth

Connecticut gained 20,100 (1.2%) jobs in 2024, marking four straight years of steady post-pandemic growth, with gains of 3.6% in 2021, 1.9% in 2022, and 1.5% in 2023.

U.S. employers added an overall 4.14 million jobs last year (2.5%), with national pandemic recovery at 131%. Connecticut’s COVID jobs recovery is now at 106%.

Connecticut’s labor participation rate is 65%, 16th best among all states, albeit with a significant gap between men and women.

The Labor Committee must take a broader view of policymaking—look at what's passed in the last few years, what have those policies meant? They didn't lower the cost of living or doing business and only reinforced perceptions the state is anti-business. 1/2 https://t.co/K0oFCcbaHh

— Chris DiPentima (@ChrisDipentima) March 21, 2025

The unemployment rate is 3.3%, 13th lowest in the country, and seventh-tenths of a point below the national rate.

Average Connecticut private sector weekly earnings increased 5.1% over the last 12 months—outpacing inflation, which was 3% in January. U.S. earnings rose 3.6%.

An estimated 36,000 Connecticut workers left their jobs voluntarily in January, up from 27,000 in December and 32,000 a year ago. 

Connecticut companies laid off 18,000 workers in January, up from 16,000 layoffs in December.