New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Jobs increase, unemployment declines in state
Connecticut added 4,400 jobs in September, while unemployment again declined, according to preliminary data released Thursday by the state Department of Labor — numbers that officials say underscore the state's steady comeback since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Employment in Connecticut has increased every month in 2022. On a monthly basis, the state has added an average of more than 3,500 positions this year — a rate that is faster than any pre-pandemic year for which comparable data exists, going back to 1990, according to DOL officials. Reflecting those gains, the state has recovered 89 percent of the approximately 289,000 jobs lost during shutdowns in March and April 2020.
“These numbers highlight the strength of Connecticut's economy and our workforce,” Department of Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said in a statement. “We had a strong pandemic economic recovery year in 2021; 2022 is a strong growth year building on recovery gains.”
The state's unemployment rate ticked down last month to 4.0 percent, compared with 4.1 percent in August and 5.6 percent in September 2020. Nationwide, the unemployment rate ran at 3.5 percent in September.
In August, the mostrecent month for aggregated Bureau of Labor Statistics data on states' unemployment levels, Connecticut had the joint-ninth-highest unemployment rate. Among neighboring states, the jobless rate was 3.6 percent in Massachusetts; 4.7 percent in New York, the highest level among all states; and 2.8 percent in Rhode Island.
Connecticut has approximately 19,000 weekly unemployment filers. Labor department officials expect that number to fluctuate during the next few months as a result of seasonal layoffs.
Numbers are adjusted to account for seasonal variations. Last month, six of the state's 10 sectors increased their employment — powered by gains of 2,000 in leisure and hospitality, 1,500 in government and 1,300 construction and mining. The government uptick reversed a drop in August and was related to school openings, DOL officials said.
Financial activities and professional and business services each lost 600 positions, while manufacturing dropped 300 jobs. Employment in the information sector was unchanged.
“Seasonal factors are coming into play with summer workers going back to school, school system payrolls expanding and the leisure and hospitality industries seeing big gains,” Flaherty said. “CTDOL continues to watch for broad impacts of national inflation and energy prices on the state's industry sectors.”
Among the ongoing employment increases, the challenge for many businesses across the state is not creating jobs, but instead finding enough people to fill their openings. Across the state, employers are hiring for nearly 90,000 positions, according to DOL.
The state's expanding labor force, which includes employed individuals and those looking for work, could help to tackle the proliferation of job vacancies. The labor force has grown by 50,000 since last December, to a total of about 1.9 million.
Compared with DOL officials, Connecticut Business & Industry Association officials were more circumspect about labor force changes during the pandemic.
“Our labor force has declined by 47,100 people since February 2020, or 43 percent of the region's losses — we have just two-thirds of the available labor pool needed to fill those open jobs,”
CBIA Chief Executive Officer and President Chris DiPentima said in a statement. “At the same time, we're seeing much greater stability in workplaces across the state, with Connecticut's voluntary quits rate and separation rate among the lowest in the country.”
As it does every month, the Department of Labor also reported Thursday revisions to the previous month's data. It adjusted the state's August jobs gain to 2,400, down from an originally estimated increase of 2,900.
About 1.67 million people were employed in the state in September, up 2.8 percent year over year. That number compares with 1.70 million in February 2020, the last full month before Connecticut recorded a COVID-19 case, and 1.72 million in March 2008, at the start of the state's 2008-2010 recession.
“We must lower Connecticut's costs of living and running a business, implement more pathways to rewarding careers, and open doors to opportunity for all communities and residents,” DiPentima added.