Connecticut appeared to escape 2008 relatively unscathed by mass layoffs under way in other parts of the Northeast, but experts fear a sharp contraction as the repercussions from Wall Street ripple into Fairfield County.
The county apparently sidestepped the brunt of Connecticut job cuts over the holiday season, as AT&T Inc., Aetna Inc., Pratt & Whitney and other companies announced hundreds of job cuts in the Hartford area and the surrounding region. Most recently, Protocol Integrated Marketing informed the state it is closing its Cheshire facility at a cost of 160 jobs.
Local officials are bracing for Fairfield County to absorb its fair share of the shock, however. In advance of significant job cuts expected for its GE Capital unit in Fairfield County, General Electric Co. revealed layoffs for its GE Aviation unit in Ohio and Massachusetts. UBS AG has cut a still-unspecified number of jobs from its Stamford operations, among the five largest corporate work sites in Fairfield County. And several hedge funds have disclosed smaller job cuts that in the aggregate add up to a large loss.
To date, Connecticut has escaped much of the brunt of mass layoffs involving at least 50 workers, according to records maintained by the U.S. Department of Labor, which counted just three mass layoffs in November affecting fewer than 200 workers. By comparison, businesses executed 18 mass layoffs in Massachusetts impacting nearly 1,500 workers, while New York suffered nearly 80 such actions affecting more than 7,000 workers.
Through November, Fairfield County still enjoyed a lower rate of unemployment than the rest of Connecticut and the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
In lower Fairfield County, the jobless rate rose from 5.8 percent in October to 6 percent in November, while the Danbury area”™s rate inched upward from 4.9 percent to 5 percent.
Connecticut”™s jobless rate increased from 6.1 percent to 6.4 percent.
The U.S. unemployment rate jumped from 6.8 percent in November to 7.2 percent in December, capping a year in which employers shed 2.6 million jobs nationally.
In the weeks leading up to the inauguration, incoming President Obama stated that a planned federal stimulus program would create 3 million jobs, though burdening the nation with deficits.
Both Connecticut”™s senators are behind the Obama administration, and hope Connecticut will secure a significant amount of work. Last month, Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics Corp. announced it will hire more than 600 workers at its Electric Boat operations in Groton and Rhode Island to support a contract for eight new attack submarines.
“We must invest in America”™s future through infrastructure projects which will create jobs today and lay the foundation for growth tomorrow,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, after the latest employment figures were released. “If we do not, we run the very real risk that this recession will last longer and eliminate many more jobs.
