Connecticut Posts Third Straight Month of Job Losses

Connecticut’s economy took a troubling turn in September as employers shed 5,200 jobs.
That marked the third straight month of losses, erasing much of the year’s earlier employment gains.

Job growth is now just 0.8% over the last 12 months, a rate that stands in stark contrast with the region and most of the country.
CBIA economist Pete Gioia noted that the state has recovered just 76% of the 119,100 jobs lost during the 2008-2010 recession, the slowest recovery of any New England state.
“We may now take over two more years to fully recover from the Great Recession, which is very problematic,” Gioia said.
“There are a lot of good things going on here in Connecticut and in our economy. Unfortunately, we still haven’t seen the across the board job growth we desperately need.”

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Massachusetts leads the region in post-recession growth with a jobs recovery rate of 304%. The Bay State added 5,100 jobs in September, with 12-month growth at 2.25%.
Maine, at 84%, is the only other New England state yet to recover all jobs lost in the recession.
The United States economy has recovered 173% of lost jobs. Connecticut employers are adding jobs half as fast as all U.S. employers.
“This emphasizes the fact that the economy must be job number one for candidates running for the General Assembly,” said Gioia.
“Certainly, this is the type of performance that has got to be reversed by creating the kind of climate that encourages business investment and creates jobs in Connecticut.”

Unemployment fell two-tenths of a point in September to 5.4%. That's a tenth of a point higher than 12 months ago and the second highest rate in New England.
At 2.9%, New Hampshire has the lowest unemployment in New England, followed by Vermont (3.3%) and Massachusetts (3.6%).
U.S. unemployment was 5% in September.

Broad Losses

Government saw the largest job losses of any of the state's 10 industry sectors in September, shedding 2,500 positions.
While the Connecticut Department of Labor's report connected those losses with recent state budget cuts, the public sector gained 1,800 jobs the previous month and is down just 400 jobs since last September.
Private sector employers shed a net 2,700 positions in September, led by leisure and hospitality, with 1,500 lost jobs.
Other services lost 1,300 jobs, followed by education and health services (-1,100), financial activities (-900), information (-400), and manufacturing (-200).
Just three sectors saw job growth in September, led by trade, transportation, and utilities, with 1,200 new jobs.
Professional and business services gained 900 positions and construction and mining added 600 jobs.
The four main labor market areas all lost jobs, with Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk (-1,200) posting the biggest losses.
Norwich-New London-Westerly dropped 1,000 jobs, followed by New Haven (-800) and Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford (-500).
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