Connecticut added 1,600 jobs in May

Connecticut labor force grew by 1,600 jobs during May, bringing the unemployment level down to 4.2%, according to data from the state”™s Department of Labor.

The state”™s 1.64 million job total is now 42,200 (2.6%) positions higher than in May 2021, and Connecticut has now recovered 82.6% (238,900) of the 289,400 positions lost in the March/April 2020 Covid period. The state also reported that April”™s increase of 1,600 was revised by 200 positions to a 1,400-job gain.

Connecticut’s private sector employment expanded by 2,900 jobs (0.2%) in May to 1.42 million while the government supersector shed 1,300 jobs (-0.6%). The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk corridor added 200 positions while the Greater Danbury area lost 400 jobs.

“May showed solid job growth,” said Patrick Flaherty, director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor. “The private sector has added more than 15,000 jobs so far in 2022 and the unemployment rate has fallen in ten of the past eleven months.”