State’s Economic Growth Slows in First Quarter

Connecticut’s economy grew 0.6%—37th among all states—in the first quarter of 2017, after surging 2% in the final three months of 2016.
The New England region posted 0.9% growth in the first quarter, while the U.S. reported 1.2% growth, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
“These numbers show that Connecticut is still growing, despite the fact that first quarter growth was sluggish compared with most New England states and the nation,” CBIA economist Pete Gioia said.
Massachusetts and Vermont led the region in the first quarter with 1.1% GDP growth, followed by New Hampshire (0.8%), Rhode Island (0.7%), Connecticut, and Maine (0%).
Connecticut’s economy shrank 0.9% in the first quarter of 2016, and posted modest 1% growth for the calendar year.
New England’s economy grew 1.7% in 2016, while the U.S. expanded by 1.5%.

Strong Job Numbers

“However, the last two months of much stronger job growth in Connecticut should lead to an improved GDP report in the next quarter,” said Gioia.
Connecticut employers added 7,000 jobs in June and 5,600 in May, with the private sector now recovering 102% of all jobs lost during the 2008-2010 recession.

Texas had the highest growth for the quarter (3.9%), followed by West Virginia (3.0%), New Mexico (2.8%), Washington (2.7%), and Wisconsin (2.1%). West Virginia's GDP shrank -0.9% in 2016.
Nebraska had the worst growth (-4.0%), trailing South Dakota (-3.8%), Iowa (-3.2%), Hawaii (-0.9%), and Kansas (-0.7%).

Sector Growth

In Connecticut, the real estate sector saw the highest growth rate for the quarter (0.39%), followed by wholesale trade (0.33%) and durable-goods manufacturing (0.21%).
Nondurable-goods manufacturing posted 0.2% growth, followed by administrative and waste management services (0.15%), construction (0.14%), healthcare and social assistance (0.12%), accommodation and food services (0.04%), and mining (0.2%).
Professional and technical services, other services, and transportation saw no growth in the first quarter.
Retail trade (-0.22%), finance and insurance (-0.19%), and utilities (-0.16%) were the worst performing sectors.
The management sector (-0.13%) also shrank, as did government (-0.1%), agriculture (-0.06%), educational services (-0.05%), information (-0.04%), and arts and entertainment (-0.04%).