The Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) released data on the state’s labor situation for November, showing that employers have continued to add jobs. Seven private industry sectors added 3,330 jobs last month, marking another month of job growth for Connecticut this year.
The added jobs are a rebound from October’s labor report which initially showed the state added 500 jobs, however, the report was later revised to show an overall job loss of 1,100. With November’s growth, Connecticut’s private sector employment is now 93.2% recovered from the pandemic shutdown, according to the report.
“Connecticut’s economy continues to move in the right direction—low unemployment, a strong market for job seekers, and solid job growth trends with 37,000 jobs added so far in 2022,” DOL Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo said. “We will see some standard seasonal fluctuation in the employment rate over the next few months and national concerns about inflation and energy prices remain top issues in Connecticut. State economists expect overall job growth to stay in positive territory.”
In total, the state added an estimated 6,200 jobs in November, however, due to the timing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics survey, the government sector gains were overestimated. The survey was conducted the week of election day and included poll workers who were on municipal payrolls for just one day.
“Economic recoveries are uneven—some months are great, others less so. For Connecticut, November is right in the middle,” CTDOL Director of Research Patrick Flaherty said. “Job growth was solid, the unemployment rate is low and stable, but employers are still challenged by a smaller labor force and that’s showing in the data. Retail Trade dropped in October and November, likely due to difficulty hiring rather than weakness in the sector. While the underlying economy is strong, in Connecticut and across the country, the labor force is smaller than it was pre-pandemic.”
So far in 2022, Connecticut’s labor force has expanded by 45,000 workers and the state’s workforce participation rate is 64.3 percent, 2.2% higher than the national average.
