Job Growth Hits Post-Recession High

Connecticut employment hit a post-recession high in June, with employers adding 6,100 jobs for the month across a range of industry sectors.
The state Department of Labor also revised May’s numbers up by 2,000 new jobs from the originally reported gain of 4,100.
CBIA economic adviser Pete Gioia welcomed the latest employment report, noting employers have added 14,900 jobs (0.9%) over the last 12 months.
“This is a very optimistic, very positive report but policymakers will have to be vigilant to ensure that we stay on the right track,” Gioia said today.
“We’ve now recovered 111% of the private sector jobs lost during the recession and year-over-year, we’ve added nearly 20,000 private sector jobs—these are pretty good numbers.”

Historical Trends

Gioia did caution that the strong May and June numbers should be considered relative to the state’s past employment patterns.
“This news needs to be tempered by historical trends,” he said.
“We had a very strong jobs report last June, but then we saw big losses in the second part of the year.”

Overall, Connecticut has now recovered 88% of the 119,100 jobs lost during the 2008-2010 recession—the only New England state yet to reach the expansion point and well below the national recovery rate of 225%.
Unemployment fell one-tenth of a point in June to 4.4%, the highest in New England and four-tenths of a point above the U.S. rate.
Gioia also remains concerned with the state's shrinking labor force, which has now declined by 23,300 people (-1.2%) over the last 12 months.
"That will put pressure on the state's ability to sustain job growth," he said.

Industry Sectors, Labor Markets

Leisure and hospitality led all industry sectors in June, adding 2,400 jobs over the month.
Education and health services gained 1,900 positions, followed by construction and mining (1,200), professional and business services (1,100), manufacturing (900), financial activities (400), and information (200).
After years of employment declines, manufacturing is showing encouraging growth, adding 4,900 jobs (3.1%) over the last 12 months—one-third of the state's overall year-to-year gains.
The government sector, which includes tribal casinos, lost 1,500 jobs in June, followed by other services (-400) and trade, transportation, and utilities (-100).

June 2018 Connecticut Labor Situation ~ Nonfarm jobs increase by 6,100 in June; unemployment rate at 4.4%. https://t.co/3YoEd1bivH pic.twitter.com/cdRjvxlYHN

— CT Dept. of Labor (@CTDOL) July 19, 2018

Four of the state's six labor market areas saw gains last month, led by Hartford, where employers added 2,800 new jobs.
Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk gained 2,300 jobs, followed by Norwich-New London-Westerly (600) and Danbury (100).
Waterbury was unchanged for the month while New Haven lost 400 jobs.