State’s Economy Shrinks 31% in Second Quarter

10.02.2020
Economy

Connecticut’s GDP contracted an astonishing 31.1.% in the second quarter of 2020 as COVID-19 restrictions further disrupted business and consumer activity.
The state’s economy ranked 23rd in the country in the second quarter, performing slightly better than the New England region overall, which declined 32.3%.

All 50 states saw GDP declines for the quarter, with the U.S. economy contracting 31.4%.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis said GDP growth “reflected the response to COVID-19, as ‘stay-at-home’ orders issued in March and April were partially lifted in some areas of the country in May and June, and government pandemic assistance payments were distributed to households and businesses.
“This led to rapid shifts in activity, as businesses and schools continued remote work and consumers and businesses canceled, restricted, or redirected their spending” the agency noted in its Oct. 2 report.

Vermont’s economic output fell 38.2% in the quarter, the worst of the six New England states.
New Hampshire experienced a 36.9% contraction, followed by Maine (-34.4%), Rhode Island (-32.4%),  and Massachusetts (-31.6%).
New York (-36.3%) and New Jersey (-35.6%) were among the bottom 10 states for the quarter.

Sector Losses

Based on the second quarter, Connecticut’s annual GDP is now $262.7 billion, 25% of New England’s $1.03 trillion economy, and second only to Massachusetts, which drives 53% of the region’s economic output.
Connecticut’s finance and insurance (0.11%) and agriculture (0.09%) sectors were the only two sectors to expand in the second quarter.
The key finance and insurance sector rebounded after contracting 0.71% in the first quarter.
Healthcare shrank 4.61% in the quarter, the worst performing of all sectors.
Accommodation and food services declined 3.98%, followed by durable goods manufacturing (-3.47%), professional services (-2.22%), retail trade (-1.13%), government (-1.85%), arts and entertainment (-1.79%), transportation and warehousing (-1.65%), other services (-1.57%), and administrative services  (-1.57%).
Nondurable goods manufacturing declined 1.29%, followed by wholesale trade (-1.5%), real estate (-1.13%), construction (-0.98%), educational services (-0.96%), information (-0.25%), utilities (-0.19%), management (-0.12%), and mining (-0.01%).

Best, Worst States

The BEA report shows the accommodation and food services sector shrank 26.8% nationally, contributing to declines in all 50 states and the leading contributor to decreases in 29 states.
Finance and insurance (-9%), healthcare (-7.8%), and arts, entertainment, and recreation (-34.7%) were also among the worst performing sectors nationally.
Accommodation and food services, healthcare, and durable goods manufacturing were the leading contributors to the decrease in national GDP.
Delaware’s economy contracted the least of any state in the second quarter, declining 21.9% with its finance and insurance sector expanding 4.47% to mitigate other sector losses.
Utah (-22.4%), Arizona (-25.3%), Washington (-25.5%), and Virginia (-27%) rounded out the top five states.
Hawaii (-42.2%), Nevada (-42.2%), Tennessee (-40.4%), Vermont, and Michigan (-37.6%) saw the quarter’s worst economic declines.

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