HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut gained 900 jobs in November, but the state’s unemployment rate rose to 3.7 percent due to an increase in jobless residents, according to the Connecticut Labor Department.
The number of the state’s unemployed residents was estimated at 71,100 by labor officials.
“The November increase of 900 payroll jobs moves us back in the right direction after October’s decline,” Andy Condon, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Labor Department, said. “Our three-month moving average job growth figure, designed to smooth out some of the volatility in our monthly numbers, has remained positive since July. However, our annual growth rate in jobs remains very modest.”
Revised numbers for October show the state lost 1,400 jobs that month.
Connecticut has now Connecticut recovered 85.5% of the 120,300 seasonally adjusted jobs lost in the “Great Recession.” The state needs an additional 17,500 net new jobs to reach an overall nonfarm employment expansion. The state’s private sector is fully recovered at 106.2% of the 112,000 private sector jobs lost in that same employment downturn.
Don Klepper-Smith, an economist with DataCore Partners who is retiring this month, said the “collective data now shows that Connecticut has now gained a modest 2,800 jobs for the period between December 2018 and November 2019, up a mild 0.4%” for the first eleven months of the year.”
He said Connecticut has been adding about 900 jobs per month, which means “the state’s economy is not likely to see full job recovery until mid-2021 based on existing labor market fundamentals.”
Klepper-Smith said that Connecticut and the nation are likely to encounter “a full-blown national recession prior to full job recovery in Connecticut, which raises serious questions about the state’s fiscal health over the near-term.”
CBIA economic adviser Pete Gioia said “If you look at the state’s own figures on key economic indicators from 2010 to 2018, Connecticut lags every other state in New England, let alone the U.S. average, particularly in terms of jobs, GDP, and population.”
Gioia said a report released Nov. 20 by the state’s Office of Policy and Management also noted that Connecticut has regained just 16% of high-paying jobs lost during the 2008-2010 recession.
“When you take all this information together, it should send up an enormous red flag for our legislature,” he added. “They’ve got to concentrate on the economy. They’ve got to find ways and pass legislation that encourages businesses to invest and create jobs in this state.”
In November, the Labor Department reported that four of the state’s top 10 major industry “supersectors” added jobs, while four lost workers.
The professional and business services and education and health service sectors led job growth last month adding about 800 jobs. Manufacturing gained 400 jobs, while other services picked up 300 jobs.
Trade, transportation and utilities shed 600 jobs last month. The leisure and hospitality industry also shed 500 positions, financial activities lost 200 jobs and construction and mining experienced a loss of 100 jobs.
The government “supersector” remained unchanged.
