Jobs Report: Tale of Two Surveys

Connecticut added 2,000 new jobs in September, while the unemployment rate fell slightly to 8.9%. That’s the good news.
While the unemployment rate declined, it remains higher than this time last year, when it stood at 8.6%. The national unemployment rate was 7.8% in September.
And the August jobs numbers–already the worst in 36 years–were revised down, with the state Department of Labor now reporting 7,500 lost jobs in that month (it previously estimated a loss of 6,800).
“Incredibly weak”
“The jobs report for September was the best we’ve seen in a few months,” said CBIA economist Pete Gioia. “But that’s got to be tempered with the fact that the year-over-year gain in jobs is only 1,900, which is incredibly weak.”
Governor Dannel Malloy, who was skeptical of the August numbers, said today’s report again illustrated conflicts between the survey used to collect the jobs data and the survey used to sample unemployment.
“With the release of the numbers today, the only thing that’s any clearer is how conflicting the data continues to be,” he said in a statement.
“Yes, the divide between the employer’s survey and the household survey has narrowed. But they still tell two stories that can’t both be true.”
Miniscule growth
The 1,900 new jobs over the last 12 months represents a miniscule 0.1% growth in the labor market.
Through the first nine months of this year, the state saw four months of job gains, four months of losses, and one month with no change.
Connecticut has recovered 31,400, or 26.7%, of the 117,500 jobs lost in the recession.
The private sector regained 42,600 (38.7%) of the 110,200 jobs lost during the recession while the government sector has lost another 11,200.
Among private sector industries, financial activities (-3,000), construction and mining (-1,200), other services (-100), and manufacturing (-200) continued to shed jobs even after the recovery began in February 2010.