For 2014, Fairfield County will be directly impacted by how those in Hartford choose to impact job creation.
January started strong for the job market in Fairfield County, with a robust 14 percent increase in job posting activity. While impressive, the high activity level and increase can be attributed to the sustained annual trend of weak December activity, as seen every year for the last four years during the same period. As such the weakness of December results in the illusion, to some extent, that January was in fact stronger than it was. Case in point ”” January 2013 posted a 27 percent increase in job posting activity over December 2012.
Some key items of note regarding January:
Ӣ Stamford led all towns in the county with the most jobs posted, followed by Norwalk and Westport.
Ӣ The industries most actively hiring this past month were financial services, accounting and professional services.
Ӣ Top job categories were administrative, accountancy and sales.
While the increase in activity in January is somewhat watered down by the facts cited it nevertheless is a good sign and hopefully one that signals a sustained upward trend. It comes at a time when the national unemployment rate has dipped to 6.6 percent, albeit with mixed signals that suggest the rate is being held down artificially by the underemployed as well as by those who have stopped actively looking for work. Further, job creation numbers for January nationally were well below market expectations.
For 2014, Fairfield County will be directly impacted by how those in Hartford choose to impact job creation. Specifically, in the past several weeks Gov. Dannel Malloy has proposed an increase in the minimum wage for the state to $10.10, a move that on the face of it will be seen as a job killer to some extent. Add to the mix that we are just about to enter the full-blown campaign season, with an already crowded field vying for the Republican nomination while Malloy has yet to declare his intentions. All of this will then be complete with political posturing on an exponential level, designed to focus mainly on voters vs. just the issues that best serve the state. With that said Malloy has recently proposed several new initiatives designed to help the sizeable population of unemployed state residents.
A focus on a solid start to Q1 2014 with these numbers is sensible so long as the broader issues remain in focus. Signs of a solid foundation for the job market on which the state can build remain to be seen. A strong February will help solidify hopes for a solid year. 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 talk to the condition of the job market as measured by data from his websites, as well as data from state, federal and industry sources in the public domain. Learn more at FairfieldCountyJobs.com.
