Connecticut gained 900 net jobs in November, bringing employment to a level of 1,699,600 seasonally adjusted, according to new data from the state”™s Department of Labor.
The Labor Department also revised the October job loss of 1,500 down to a new total of 1,400. Over the past year, from November 2018 to last month, state-based employers have added 3,900 jobs, increasing Connecticut”™s labor force by 0.2%, according to the Labor Department.
It estimated the number of unemployed residents at 71,100, seasonally adjusted, up 1,600 from October. As a result, the November unemployment rate stood at 3.7%, seasonally adjusted, up by one-tenth of a point from the revised October level.
Private-sector employment grew by 900 to 1,464,300 jobs over the month in November, and are now up by 5,800 seasonally adjusted jobs over November 2018. The government supersector was unchanged in November at a total of 235,300, and is down 1,900 jobs over the year.
Within Fairfield County, the labor market in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor shed 900 jobs last month, the largest number for Connecticut”™s metro areas, while the Danbury area recorded the loss of 100 jobs from the previous month.
“The November increase of 900 payroll jobs moves us back in the right direction after October”™s decline,” said Andy Condon, director of the Labor Department”™s Office of Research “Our three-month moving average job growth figure, designed to smooth out some of the volatility in our monthly numbers, has remained positive since July. However, our annual growth rate in jobs remains very modest.”
Pete Gioia, economic adviser with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, expressed concern that the state has not equaled the economic vibrancy being enjoyed across the country.
“That”™s only 0.2% compared with 1.5% on the national level,” Gioia said. “We”™re still quite weak. If you look at the state”™s own figures on key economic indicators from 2010 to 2018, Connecticut lags every other state in New England, let alone the U.S. average, particularly in terms of jobs, GDP and population.”
