Connecticut added 2,900 jobs in July, a 0.2% uptick to a level of roughly 1.7 million, according to the state”™s Department of Labor.
The Connecticut unemployment rate declined to a post-pandemic low of 3.6% and the state recovered 98.2% (283,800) of the 289,100 nonfarm jobs lost during the March-April 2020 Covid lockdown. The Department of Labor also revised the June job loss of 4,600 (-0.3%) positions higher by 2,100 to a 2,500 (-0.2%) job loss.
“Connecticut gained 19,100 jobs so far this year after gaining 26,800 jobs in all of 2022,” said Patrick Flaherty, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor. “The number of unemployed is below 70,000 for the first time since August 2019. While job growth may slow toward the end of the year as it has in recent years, Connecticut’s labor market is healthy as we start the second half of 2023.”
The state”™s private sector employment gained 2,900 (0.2%) jobs in July 2023 to 1.46 million and the government supersector stayed unchanged at a level of 231,500 jobs. Within Fairfield County, the Greater Danbury area lost 200 positions and the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor saw no change from June to July.
Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), said the July data was “certainly welcome given June”™s disappointing losses,” but he also warned that “the pace of growth is not meeting the demands of Connecticut”™s economy””our 12-month job growth is just 1.3%, in the bottom five states. The labor force””those working and those looking for work””declined for a seventh consecutive month in July and is down 41,100 people or 2.1% from pre-pandemic levels. Employers are losing patience and the longer this crisis continues, the greater the risk that companies will look elsewhere to meet their workforce needs. We have 91,000 job openings. Even if every unemployed person was hired tomorrow, we”™d still have 22,000 unfilled positions.”
Photo by Egan Snow / Flickr Creative Commons
