Hourly wages in Connecticut increased from August 2024 to August 2025—but so did the cost of essentials, like food, housing, and energy.
The average hourly wage for Connecticut workers increased by 3.2%, from $37.76 to $38.96 in the 12 months ending in August, according to a report from the Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) that was published on Sept. 18. This slightly outpaced the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which increased by 2.9% during the same period.
Across the board, work hours remained largely unchanged.
Overall, private sector earnings are around $40.65 higher a week than they were a year ago. However, the change in wages varies dramatically by industry and location.
Trade, transportation, and utility workers saw a pay increase of $60.29 a week, education and health service employees saw an increase of $70.63 a week, and people who work in the financial sector earned $125.53 more a week. On the flip side, manufacturing workers saw a $5.48 decrease in their weekly earnings, and some service jobs paid $57 less a week in August than they did a year ago.
On average, people in the Waterbury-Shelton area made $96.25 more a week in August 2025 than they did a year earlier. People in the New Haven, Norwich-New London-Willimantic and Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury areas experienced less extreme weekly earning increases, while workers in the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford area made $17.94 less a week than they did a year ago.
CPI rose across the board, both year-over-year and from July to August.
“The all items index rose 2.9 percent for the 12 months ending in August, after rising 2.7 percent over the 12 months ending July,” the report states. “The all items less food and energy index rose 3.1 percent over the last 12 months… The food index increased 3.2 percent over the last year.”
Despite the energy and food indexes increasing by the largest percentages, the largest increase in expense was shelter, which rose 0.4% in August.
Across the country, the all-items index also increased by 2.9% year-over-year.
While salaries have increased slightly in the state, so has unemployment. Last August, unemployment was at 3.2% in the state, while this August it was 3.8%.
Preliminary data show that nonfarm jobs in the state increased by 900 in August, and revised data from July show that the job gain was slightly higher than initially reported. Initially, CTDOL reported 700 more jobs, but now it is saying that there were actually 800 more jobs in the economy.
On this front, Connecticut is doing better than most of the country. The national unemployment rate is 4.2%.
“After fluctuations earlier this year (some of which were related to a labor dispute) Connecticut has now posted two consecutive months of steady job growth at a sustainable pace,” said Director of the Office of Research at the CTDOL Patrick Flaherty in the study. “The unemployment rate remains low and private sector employment is at an all-time high.”
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Does the CT house ever consider that there is a relationship between wages and retail prices? Raise minimum wages and the cost of everything goes up. It is a futile race.