Connecticut added almost 2,400 businesses and 75 percent of all municipalities posted inflation-adjusted wage gains in 2017, according to the state Department of Labor.
Business establishments statewide increased by 2 percent over 2016, or about 2,393 businesses, to 119,669 last year, compared with 0.9 percent growth from 2015 to 2016. All told, 80 percent of the state”™s 169 municipalities added new establishments over the year. Since 2010, the number of businesses in the state has grown by 7.5 percent, according to DOL.
Meanwhile, last year”™s 75 percent of municipalities posting wage gains was up from 70 percent in 2016. The statewide real annual average wage was $58,376 per worker, a 1.5 percent decline over 2016 and a 1.8 percent decrease from 2010. The highest real average pays were in businesses located in Greenwich, at $120,642 last year.
Hartford continued to post the highest unemployment rate (8.1 percent) last year, a drop from 9.2 percent in 2016. Among cities with at least 100,000 residents statewide, Stamford recorded the lowest unemployment rate of 4.1 percent.
Overall, the statewide rate fell from 5.1 percent in 2016 to 4.7 percent in 2017.
