October Jobs Report: Fiscal, Workforce Development Policy Key to Sustaining Growth

The October employment report highlights the importance of addressing the challenges impacting Connecticut’s economy, the state’s largest business organization said today.

“It’s a modest monthly gain which fully offsets the losses for September,” said CBIA economic adviser Pete Gioia.

Gioia said that based on year-over-year employment trends, Connecticut is poised for what could be the state’s strongest annual job growth in more than three decades.

“The year-over-year numbers are starting to become fairly impressive,” he said.

“At 25,700 private sector jobs, we’re seeing the potential for one of the best years we’ve had since the 1980s.

“We also saw gains in almost all of the labor market areas, so this was a broad-based if modest report.”
Gioia said the new administration and General Assembly can drive continued growth by focusing on the state’s key economic challenges, including restoring fiscal stability and supporting workforce development initiatives.

“The important thing right now is for policymakers to do things that will continue this growth and, if possible, accelerate it and not do damage,” he said.

He noted the state has now recovered 90% of all jobs lost during the 2008-2010 recession, the slowest in the region, with Connecticut one of just a few states in the country yet to reach full recovery.

The unemployment rate, which remained unchanged in October at 4.2%, is the highest of the New England states and a half percentage point higher than the national average.

---

CBIA is Connecticut’s largest business organization, with thousands of member companies, small and large, representing a diverse range of industries from every part of the state. For more information, please email or call Meaghan MacDonald (860.244.1957).