Pre-pandemic, Connecticut added 4,000 jobs in February

What a difference a month makes ”“ new data from the Connecticut Department of Labor reported the state gained 4,000 net jobs in February, bringing employment to a pre-pandemic level of 1,700,800 seasonally adjusted. January”™s reported job gain of 2,600 was revised up to a gain of 3,300.

“February”™s payroll job numbers revealed a heathy increase of 4,000 jobs over January 2020,” said Andy Condon, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor. “In addition, this was the sixth month in a row of payroll job growth. Unfortunately, with the impact of the spread of the COVID-19 virus we can expect payroll jobs to decline as a result of sharply increased layoffs and furloughs.”

In February, the number of the state”™s unemployed residents was estimated at 72,600, seasonally adjusted, up 400 from the revised January level. This brought the February unemployment rate to 3.8%, seasonally adjusted, up one-tenth of a percentage point  from the revised January level.

Private sector employment in February grew 3,300 (0.2%) to 1,463,00 jobs over the month in February, and was up by 12,400 (0.9%) seasonally adjusted jobs from one year earlier. The government supersector expanded by 700 jobs in February to a total of 237,500, and is up by 900 jobs (0.4%) from the previous year ”“ however, the month”™s job growth was primarily fueled by the work related to the U.S. Census.

Within Fairfield County, the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor lost 1,000 jobs last month while the Danbury area was unchanged from January.