Connecticut posted its first job loss of the year with a decrease of 1,400 positions in May, according to the latest report from the state Department of Labor.
“Connecticut”™s decline of 1,400 jobs in May follows a very slow month for job growth across the country,” said Andy Condon, director of the Labor Department”™s office of research. “Our labor force saw small but equal percentage declines in both residents employed and unemployed, resulting in an unchanged unemployment rate.”
The unemployment rate has remained fairly stagnant over the last three months at 5.7 percent, though it is one-tenth of a percentage point higher than the May 2015 unemployment rate of 5.6 percent.
The news was largely expected in light of national job numbers, said Pete Gioia, vice president and economist with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, the state”™s largest business organization.
“It does point to the fact that we are still struggling here in Connecticut,” Gioia said in a statement following the release of the state numbers. “On a slightly more positive note, Connecticut has added 13,900 more jobs since last May and we have seen some sectors of higher quality jobs growing.”
According to estimates by the office of research, since May 2015, the state has made “broad-based” job gains in nine of 10 major industry supersectors.
In the first five months of this year the state has increased nonfarm jobs by 8,100 compared with gains in the first five months of 2015 of 5,800 jobs.
Seasonally adjusted, five of the 10 industry supersectors gained employment last month.
Top gains were made by the manufacturing sector with 1,200 jobs added for a total of 160,900, a 0.8 percent increase.
The government supersector saw the next biggest job increase for May, adding 1,000 jobs for a 0.4 increase now totaling 238,800 jobs.
“The gain may have more to do with seasonal adjustment rather than significant job gains,” according to the office of research.
The construction and mining supersector added 900 positions last month, a 1.5 percent increase for a total of 60,000 jobs in the state. The financial activities supersector gained 700 jobs, a 0.5 percent increase for a total of 132,500 jobs supported by gains of 500 positions in finance and insurance and 200 jobs in real estate.
The trade, transportation and utilities supersector led declining industry supersectors in May with a 0.9 percent decrease of 2,600 jobs down to a total of 297,600 jobs.
According to the labor report, a loss of 2,700 jobs in the supersector”™s retail trade subcomponent was responsible for the entire monthly drop.
The small information industry supersector totaling 33,600 jobs also posted a large loss in May, a 2.9 percent decrease of 1,000 positions, though the labor report notes this may have had some minor influence from the Verizon strike.
Education and health services was also lower in job counts, down 0.4 percent for a loss of 1,400 jobs led by a decrease of 800 jobs in private education components, possibly as a result of the impending end of the school year, according to the report.
This supersector, now totaling 328,500 jobs, still remains the largest in numeric job growth over the year increasing by 2,800 jobs, a 0.9 percent increase, according to the office of research.
Gioia notes Connecticut”™s post-recession recovery rate has now dropped to 79 percent while neighboring Massachusetts has recovered 255 percent of the jobs lost during the economic downturn and the United States as a whole has recovered 163 percent, according to an analysis by New Haven-based DataCore Partners.
Additionally the state unemployment rate remains highest among all other New England states and needs to add an additional 25,200 jobs to reach pre-recession levels, he said.
“Are we heading back into a recession? No, but we are hitting some bumps in the road,” Gioia said. “Put it this way, we just blew out a tire on a big pothole and now have to change it before we can move forward again.”
