State shed 266K jobs in April

Grim labor report highlights pandemic’s economic toll on CT

Connecticut’s economy shed about 266,000 jobs in April amid the coronavirus crisis, a historic single-month toll that cost the state more than twice the number of salaried and wage positions that it lost in the Great Recession.

Reflecting an unprecedented shutdown of the state’s economy since its first confirmed COVID-19 case in early March, every major sector’s employment suffered, according to data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor. Several sectors lost more than 20,000 positions, with each of them alone breaking Connecticut’s monthly record for job losses.

Connecticut’s unemployment rate for resident workers and self-employed professionals spiked more than four points to 7.9 percent. But the level “appears severely underestimated” due to data-collection problems, including misclassification of some workers’ employment status, according to labor officials. They estimate the actual rate is closer to about 17.5 percent, which approaches Great Depression-era levels.

“These numbers are both devastating

and unsurprising, given the number of businesses shut down. And with businesses that have been allowed to open, many have no business or volume, so they’ve been letting people go,” said Joe Brennan, CEO and president of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. “The main thing is just how quickly we can get them back to work.”

Leisure and hospitality ranked as the hardest-hit sector, losing nearly 73,000 salaried and waged jobs. Next came trade, transportation and utilities, which saw employment plunge by about 50,000. Health and education lost about 45,000 positions. Professional and business services’ ranks dropped by about 26,000,