In a surprising report, Connecticut Voices for Children found the state has the fourth highest long-term unemployment rate in the nation, defined as the percentage of unemployed workers who have been out of work at least six months.
An estimated 37 percent of unemployed workers in Connecticut have lacked jobs for at least a half year.
As of the most recent data available, Connecticut had regained just 12 percent of the jobs when the economy hit a low of just over 1.6 million jobs last December (the state”™s jobs had peaked at 1.7 million in March 2008). At that pace, it would take Connecticut more than four years to regain the 103,000-plus jobs it lost during the recession ”“ though that does not take into account any prospect of a quickening economy that could shave those numbers at a swifter pace.
With the report in hand, the New Haven-based Connecticut Voices for Children asked policymakers to avoid further budget cuts, and to consider unspecified new revenues as a strategy for balancing the budget. Despite Gov. M. Jodi Rell”™s stance on budget cuts over new taxes, the Connecticut Department of Labor included Connecticut Voices for Children”™s press release on its website in recognition of Labor Day.
“The pain of this recession has been concentrated among low- and middle-wage workers, while the gains of the previous economic expansion were primarily enjoyed by high-wage workers,” said Joe Hero, research associate at Connecticut Voices for Children, in a prepared statement. “Connecticut should aggressively pursue an economic development strategy that benefits all workers.
The only sectors to see growth throughout the recession have been education and health services, with 13,500 jobs gained over that period; and the leisure and hospitality segment, with an estimated increase of 900 jobs.
Professional and business services ”“ a sector that includes everything from temporary office workers to high-end consultants ”“ registered the most severe cuts, with 21,000 jobs lost.
Private sector unemployment continues to trend upward nationally, with businesses adding 67,000 jobs nationally in August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. While that was offset by the loss of some 113,000 U.S. Census Bureau workers following this year”™s census, the U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 9.6 percent.
Connecticut Voices for Children said the rate of underemployed workers ”“ those who are working part-time jobs but who would prefer full-time work ”“ is now at 14 percent, reportedly an all-time high.
The only demographic of Connecticut”™s population to see an employment gain between 2006 and 2009 were those whose occupations are in the highest 20 percent of the pay bracket. By comparison, middle-income workers, those making somewhere between $18 and just over $24 an hour ”“ suffered a 6.8 percent drop in available jobs over the same period.
The report relied in part on data from the Economic Policy Institute, based in Washington, D.C. In a separate report, that organization stated that in addition to a lackluster jobs market, wage growth has been mostly nonexistent during the recession.
“Workers who have kept their jobs or found new work during this downturn have also suffered from a broad-based collapse of wage growth over the last two years,” wrote Lawrence Michel and Heidi Shierholz in a research brief. “With unemployment expected to remain elevated for many years to come, we do not expect the suppression of wage growth to ease anytime soon.”
