Connecticut Jobs Improve, So Do Competitors

08.20.2015
Economy

Connecticut is having a strong summer for jobs, with the state gaining 4,100 jobs in July, including 3,000 in the private sector. Our unemployment rate, says the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, is now 5.4%, just above the national rate of 5.3%.
CBIA economist Pete Gioia said the latest report contains “a lot of good news” for Connecticut, especially with the state’s private sector now having recovered 97% (108,000 of 111,600) jobs lost during the recession.
Unemployment-NE_082015.pngBut we’re not alone.
“Connecticut is certainly recovering, and we seem to be accelerating somewhat,” said Gioia, “but we’re not alone in that other states still seem to be outperforming us.”
For example, Massachusetts gained 7,200 jobs in July and the state’s unemployment rate is 4.7%.
Our 5.4% rate is tied with New York (which added 19,300 private-sector jobs), Florida (added 13,700 private-sector jobs), and Pennsylvania (added 8,000 private-sector jobs).
Overall, Connecticut’s unemployment rate continues to be higher than every New England state except Rhode Island (5.8%).
New Hampshire improved to 3.7% in July, and Maine also dipped, to 4.6%. Vermont, meanwhile, held its third-best-in-the-U.S. unemployment rate at 3.6%
Connecticut has added 30,600 jobs year-over-year, and the state is now at 85.7% in jobs recovered since the great recession.
The Connecticut Department of Labor says that, in dropping three-tenths of a point, the state’s unemployment rate is the lowest it has been since May 2008 and a full percentage point less than in July 2014.
Six up, four down
Six of the state’s 10 major industry sectors added jobs, led by the business and professional services sector, with 2,700. Others gaining included:

  • Education and health services (1,600 jobs)
  • Financial activities (1,100)
  • Government (1,000)
  • Manufacturing (600)
  • Other services (100)

Sectors in which jobs declined included construction and mining, information, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation and utilities.
Job gains also were uneven across the state, with greater Hartford and lower Fairfield counties performing the best in July, gaining 3,500 and 2,600 jobs, respectively.
However, New Haven, and the Norwich-New London  areas lost jobs, while greater Danbury was unchanged.

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