Connecticut”™s unemployment rate fell below 6 percent last month for the first time in seven years. The state Department of Labor”™s preliminary report also revealed the state added 600 jobs, seasonally adjusted, from the previous month, including a 2,600-job increase in the private sector.
At 5.7 percent, Connecticut”™s unemployment rate in June was down from 6 percent in May and the lowest rate since July 2008.
The unemployment rates in the U.S. and neighboring states are lower. The national unemployment rate is 5.3 percent. New York and Massachussets”™ unemployment rates are 5.5 and 4.6 percent, respectively.
“(It is) still higher than most of the other New England states and shows just how stubborn our economic recovery is more than five years after the end of the recession,” said Peter Gioia, vice president and economist for the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, in a statement.
- U.S. and Connecticut unemployment rates from 2013 to 2015. Source: Connecticut Department of Labor
In June 2014, the national unemployment rate was 6.1 percent and Connecticut”™s unemployment rate was 6.5 percent.
The improved rate is attributed to the state and private sector adding jobs that were lost during the recession from March 2008 to February 2010. The state has recovered 82.3 percent of jobs at an average of 1,530 per month, the Labor Department said. The private sector has recovered about 94.3 percent of the jobs lost at an average of 1,644 jobs per month.
The construction and mining industry grew 3.9 percent from May to June, the most growth of the state”™s 10 supersectors. Other growing industries included manufacturing, professional and businesses services and financial activities, which has grown every month this year.
Government; leisure and hospitality; trade, transportation and utilities; and education and health services lost jobs last month. The information sector stayed the same.
The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk labor market area saw job growth last month and an unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, down from 5.4 percent in May. The Danbury labor market area reported a job loss yet saw its jobless rate drop a percentage point to 4.3 percent.
