May Jobs Report Highlights Pandemic’s Economic Damage

Connecticut’s May employment report highlights the widespread economic damage from the coronavirus pandemic, the state’s largest business organization said today.

“May saw the recovery of just 10% of the more than 269,000 jobs that were lost the previous month after shutdown orders and restrictions were put in place,” CBIA president and CEO Joe Brennan said today.

“That speaks to the breadth of the damage the pandemic is doing to our economy and the impact it is having on hundreds of thousands of Connecticut residents and families.”

Brennan said the May report likely did not reflect the full impact of the state’s May 20 first phase reopening, given the timing of data collection.

“It was encouraging to see gains, however modest, in the leisure and hospitality, trade, services, and manufacturing sectors,” he said.

“However, several sectors, including the key financial activities sector, posted additional losses.”

Brennan repeated a call for greater collaboration between the private and public sectors to both mitigate the pandemic’s impact and drive job growth. 

“As I said last month, if we don’t change our thinking and adopt new approaches, many of these jobs may never return to Connecticut,” he said.

“That means focusing on promoting and driving private sector growth by adopting policy measures that will incentivize investment and job creation.”

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 Joe Budd (860.244.1951).