Connecticut added 8,700 jobs during January, a 0.5% uptick to 1.68 million, the state’s unemployment rate dropped to 3.9%.
According to new data from the Connecticut Department of Labor, statewide nonfarm industry employment is now 35,300 (2.1%) positions higher than the pre-pandemic January 2022 level, with the state having recovered 94.6% (273,400) of the 289,100 jobs lost during the 2020 Covid lockdown.
“Benchmark revisions show there were more jobs in the Connecticut economy than previously estimated,” said Patrick Flaherty, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor. “Many industries have now exceeded their pre-pandemic employment and the unemployment rate is back to its February 2020 level. While we caution not to over-emphasize one month’s data, January numbers suggest Connecticut got off to a great start in 2023.”
Connecticut’s private sector employment increased by 8,400 (0.6%) positions in January to 1.45 million and the government supersector was up by 300 jobs (0.1%) to a level of 229,200. Regionally, the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor added 3,200 positions in January while the Greater Danbury area added 200 jobs.
