By David Lewiy
September was an uneventful month for the job market in Fairfield County, with a modest 4 percent decrease in job-posting activity. This continues a downward trend that started in May, indicating the market still remains stuck in neutral.
Some key items of note regarding September:
Ӣ Stamford led all towns in the county with the most jobs posted, followed by Norwalk, Fairfield and Danbury.
Ӣ The industries most actively hiring this past month were accounting, financial services and consulting services.
Ӣ Top job categories were administrative, accountancy and sales.
In looking at this month”™s data there are a few story lines. Open jobs in Norwalk are starting to increase vs. earlier this year when businesses in the town failed to crack the top five of active job markets in the county. Stamford”™s dominance as the leader of open jobs is both a blessing and a curse as Stamford businesses continue to be challenged to find talent. This month”™s Metro-North outage further adversely impacts the idea that you can live elsewhere and easily commute in by train. Lastly, Danbury”™s showing here suggests that we could see some positive activity in that market where jobs have not been easy to come by.
While accounting firms are looking for more talent they are likely to be challenged to find it as the colleges are churning out fewer graduates with degrees in accounting and, perhaps more importantly, fewer with their career paths being in accounting. The presence of financial services as an industry that is hiring unfortunately is about support and operational roles vs. those really needed in the producer areas, which pay far more and as a result generate more tax revenue for the state.
When it comes to the categories of those jobs most posted and, therefore, open in the county, specifically those in administrative support, the story is about the dynamic between cost of living and traffic. Each has a significant impact on the lack of administrative talent in the county as most in that field/category cannot afford to live here and, therefore, must commute. The cost to commute is outweighing the benefit of the job, leaving many of those roles open as candidates from 30 miles or more away from lower Fairfield County opt for positions in Shelton and New Haven, where the commute is shorter from the areas many of these folks can afford to live.
The outlook for Q4 of 2013 is ominous as the uncertainty surrounding the budget impasse and debt ceiling debate easily could force business owners to take a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to hiring and expansion. Stay tuned.
David Lewis is president/CEO of FairfieldCountyJobs.com, a regional job board with more than 100,000 visitors a month to view jobs from more than 4,000 area employers. His monthly reports will talk to the condition of the job market as measured by data from his sites as well as data from state, federal and industry sources in the public domain. Learn more about David and his team at FairfieldCountyJobs.com.
