New Job Numbers For CT Greatly Disappoint

HARTFORD, CT — Connecticut’s 2018 job numbers were shaping up to be a significant improvement, but new data squashed the optimism. Seasonally-adjusted job growth between December 2017 and 2018 was originally thought to be nearly 20,000 additional jobs, but that was reduced to 10,000.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics uses survey data to estimate job growth through the year and those figures are eventually replaced with hard numbers from the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages data.

Connecticut did add 1,000 net new jobs in January 2019.

Year-over-year nonfarm seasonally-adjusted employment increased .7 percent in Connecticut between January 2018 and 2019, according to BLS. That puts Connecticut in the bottom 10 states for growth. New York had 1.1 percent growth, Massachusetts had .7 percent and Rhode Island had .5 percent. The top states for employment growth were Nevada (3.9 percent), Utah (3.4 percent) and Arizona (2.8 percent).

"The January jobs report starts the year on a good note with an increase of 1,000 net new jobs in Connecticut," said Andy Condon, Director of the Office of Research. "However the annual benchmark revision process conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics significantly reduced last year's job growth figures.”

Connecticut has recovered 84 percent of all jobs and 103 percent of private jobs lost during the 2008 Great Recession, according to the Connecticut Mirror.

The Connecticut unemployment rate for January 2019 was 3.8 percent compared to 4.6 percent in January 2018, according to the Connecticut Department of Labor. The U.S. unemployment rate was 4 percent. Connecticut had a labor force of about 1.9 million people in January, which is roughly a 53 percent labor participation rate. The U.S. labor participation rate is about 63 percent.

Connecticut’s 17-year-low in unemployment rate combined with low job growth could potentially be explained by Connecticut’s aging population where new jobs aren’t being created, but are being filled as employees retire, according to the Mirror.

The average weekly earnings in January 2019 for Connecticut private industry employees was $1,111.82, about $45 higher than the same time last year. Average hourly earnings were $33.09 in January 2019.