Wednesday

The Rotary Club of Branford: meets from 7:15 to 8:30 a.m. at the Parthenon Diner, 374 E. Main St., Branford. Call 203-315-2444, ext. 450. The Devon Rotary: meets at 7:30 a.m. at the Bridge House Restaurant, 49 Bridgeport Ave., Milford. Visit www.devonrotary.org. The Milford Chamber of Commerce Wednesday Morning Leads Group: meets at 8:30 a.m. at the Chamber, 5 Broad St., Milford. Call 203-878-0681. The Rotary Club of Guilford: meets at 12:15 p.m. at The Maritime Grille, 2548 Boston Post Road, Guilford. Call 203-453-0774. The Greater New Haven Business & Professional Association: meets at 11 a.m. at 192 Dixwell Ave. Call 203-562-2193. The Rotary Club of Wallingford: meets at 12:10 p.m. at Il Monticello, 577 S. Broad St., Meriden. Call 203-235-3816. North Branford Rotary: meets at 6 p.m. at Nataz, 2025 Foxon Road. Call 203-484-7707. The Greater New Haven Breakfast Club: meets at 8 a.m. at Clark’s Pizza & Restaurant, 68 Whitney Ave., New Haven. Email info@rosnerdoherty.com. The Rotary Club of West Haven: meets at 12:15 p.m. at App’s Ristorante, 283 Captain Thomas Blvd.

There is a real urgency in Donald Klepper-Smith’s voice as he talks about current economic conditions in Connecticut.

“We need to engage is some fiscal discipline and quickly,” said Klepper-Smith, of New Haven-based DataCore Partners, referring to state government. “The labor markets are under siege. We’re not creating jobs and we’re not creating income growth.”

Klepper-Smith is also the author of the New Haven Register’s monthly economic scorecard. He said the March scorecard for the New Haven area, which has five of eight economic indicators headed in a positive direction, is good news.

“The New Haven area has been keeping its nose above water,” Klepper-Smith said. “The same cannot be said about Connecticut as a whole.”

Two of the three labor-related economic indicators in the scorecard were headed in a positive direction in March.

The unemployment rate for the New Haven Labor Market Area last month was 5.1 percent, down 0.7 percent from March 2016.

And the region’s labor force grew by 1,800 people compared to March 2016.

But there were 2,000 fewer people employed in the New Haven area last month than in March 2016.

“It begs the question of whether we will ever get back to our pre-recession employment peak,” Klepper-Smith said.

Job recovery rate is around 76 percent statewide and 94 percent in New Haven, he said.

With the state only adding jobs at the rate of 1,000 per month, Klepper-Smith said full recovery of all the jobs lost in the recession won’t occur until mid-2019.

For a brief period early in 2016, the New Haven area had recovered all the jobs it lost during the recession. Now, employment levels in the region are moving laterally, he said.

Other indicators headed in a positive direction during March were: • Consumer prices. • Consumer confidence.

• Median single-family home price.

In addition to employment, the two other indicators headed in a negative direction were real disposable income and new housing permits.

One factor that could work against sustained growth in new housing is an uncertain labor market, Klepper-Smith said.

“Housing creates a lot of spending on durable goods,” he said, referring to items such as television sets, large appliances and furniture. “Economic uncertainty in the labor market translates to uncertainty in housing markets.”

But the most important factor standing between current economic conditions and the next recession is consumer confidence, according to Klepper-Smith.

“Consumers control twothirds of economic activity through personal consumption,” he said. “As long as consumers stay confident, we can stay away from a recession.”

“Consumers control twothirds of economic activity through personal consumption. As long as consumers stay confident, we can stay away from a recession.”