Connecticut put two months of job losses behind it in November and added 5,100 jobs, bringing the state’s private sector back up to pre-recession levels, according to Thursday’s Labor Department report.
“Job growth in November was broad-based and noteworthy after two months of declines,” Andy Condon, director of the Labor Department’s Office of Research, said. “Private sector job growth reached a landmark, recovering the losses seen in the 2008 to 2010 recession.”
The Labor Department said the private sector is now estimated to have recovered 113,400 of the 111,600 private sector jobs lost in the Great Recession, and has entered an expansionary phase.
“Today’s data shows that Connecticut’s private sector is continuing to grow from the 2008 recession — and we’ve hit yet another milestone,” Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said. “Our state’s businesses have shown strong growth this year, adding over 26,700 new jobs, while our unemployment rate is at a nearly eight-year low. We know that numbers can and may fluctuate from month to month, but what is undoubtedly clear is that we are making significant progress.”
In addition, seven of the 10 major industry supersectors gained jobs in November, led by leisure and hospitality, which gained 1,500 jobs. Labor officials speculated that the warm weather may have helped boost activity in arts, entertainment, and recreation, which grew 300 jobs, and accommodation and food services, which grew 1,200 jobs.
The trade, transportation and utilities supersector followed with 500 new jobs in trade, 100 in retail trade, and 500 in transportation and utilities. The professional and business services grew 1,000 jobs and manufacturing saw a gain of 800 jobs.
Smaller monthly employment gains of 500 jobs came from education and health services, the combined construction and mining segment gained 400 jobs, and other services gained 300 jobs. The information and government supersector lost about 500 jobs. Local governments shed 200 jobs, while the federal government added 100 and state government remained unchanged.
Connecticut has now recovered 105,700 positions, or 88.8 percent of the 119,000 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs that were lost in the state during the recession. The state needs to reach the 1,713,000 job level to enter a full nonfarm employment expansionary phase. That means the state will need to add 13,300 nonfarm jobs.
Connecticut’s recovery is now 69 months old and the state has been averaging 1,532 new jobs a month since February 2010.