Connecticut works

Connecticut added 4,000 jobs in June, putting it within range of the state employment record of just above 1.7 million jobs set at the apex of the last economic cycle.
Some 16,600 new businesses filed with the Connecticut secretary of state”™s office in the first half of 2006, the most for any six-month period since 1999. Startups and expansions within various industries in Connecticut will account for more than 11,000 new jobs over the next several years, predicted Jungmin Charles Joo, an analyst at the Connecticut Department of Labor.
The June unemployment rate was 4.3 percent, down from 4.5 percent in May but up from 4.2 percent in June 2006. The national unemployment rate this June was 4.5 percent.
Fairfield County”™s job count is up 8,000 from a year ago (including eight towns just east of the county), a 1.6 percent gain that was by far the best performance in the state.
“After experiencing a cool-down in employment growth in May, Connecticut”™s economy really heated up in June, restoring the 1,000 jobs lost and adding another 3,000,” stated John Tirinzonie, an economist with the state Labor Department. “We need only 700 new jobs to reach our all-time high set in July 2000, and maybe with some luck, this July will again be a record month.”
The financial sector did not keep pace, shedding 700 jobs. The department speculated the loss could be due to low summer hiring in the insurance sector that normally occurs in June, as well as the slow housing market that has impacted the real estate industry. Employment in the latter industry was down 1.9 percent from May and 1.4 percent from June 2006.
The burgeoning economy has been a boon to the state”™s leisure and hospitality sector, with recreational employment up 3.4 percent from June 2006.
The economic miniboom is also replenishing Connecticut”™s coffers ”“ Gov. M. Jodi Rell announced a $1 billion budget surplus in the 2007 fiscal year, up $136 million from the May estimate.
The administration is reserving $250 million for the state”™s rainy-day fund, ballooning the balance to nearly $1.4 billion.
“The economy is heating up, and we are doing the right thing by adding these considerable funds to our reserves,” Rell said, in a prepared statement. “We now should be well prepared should the state experience future bumps in the economic road.”