CT added 2,600 jobs in January, lost 3,300 during 2019

Connecticut gained 2,600 net jobs in January, bringing employment to a level of 1,696,100 seasonally adjusted, according to new data from the state Department of Labor. But while 2020 Connecticut job picture began on a high note, the 2019 data was revised downward.

The number of unemployed residents was estimated at 72,300, seasonally adjusted, unchanged from December. As a result, Connecticut”™s January unemployment rate is at 3.7%, seasonally adjusted, down one-tenth of a percent from the revised December level.

Private sector employment grew by 2,500 (0.2%) to 1,459,600 jobs over the month in January, and are now up by 8,800 (0.6%) seasonally-adjusted jobs from January 2019. The government supersector rose adding 100 jobs in January to a total of 236,500, but remains down 1,000 jobs (-0.4%) from the previous year.

Within Fairfield County, the labor market in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor recorded an increase of 1,500 jobs while the Danbury area recorded a gain of 100 jobs.

“January”™s payroll job numbers are a good start to the year with a seasonally adjusted increase of 2,600 jobs over December 2019,” said Andy Condon, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor.

However, Condon added that revised federal data regarding Connecticut”™s job performance during 2019 changed the picture from growth to reduction, although the department revised the December job gain of 100 up to a new total of 1,000. 

“The annual benchmark revision process conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reduced Connecticut”™s 2019 payroll job estimates by six-tenths of a percent, turning a preliminary 7,400 average job gain in 2019 to a 3,300 loss,” he said.

Condon blamed the downward revision on the difficulty in growing jobs in a low unemployment rate environment and on low-to-zero population growth in the state, which fuels the low unemployment rate and limits growth of the labor force.