Administrative jobs in CT added employees in June while construction and mining tumbled. What’s the takeaway?
Employers in Connecticut added 1,700 jobs in June, helping push the unemployment rate down to 4%, the lowest since March 2020 before the pandemic shut much of the economy, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
The jobless rate exceeds the U.S. rate of 3.6% in June.
Construction and mining shed 1,800 jobs, a drop of nearly 3%, to 59,800, leading all sectors that lost jobs last month. Patrick Flaherty, research director at the Labor Department, said in an interview that hiring was particularly strong in the spring following a mild winter and many projects have been completed. Job losses in construction are not reflected in an uptick in unemployment compensation filings by construction workers, he said.
The greatest employment gains were in professional and business service jobs — a broad category that includes management and administrative work — increasing by 1,300 jobs, reflecting strength generally in the labor force, Flaherty said.
Economists also revised an initially reported rise of 1,600 jobs in May to an increase of 2,400.
“Connecticut gained jobs every month in the first half of 2022 and the unemployment rate has fallen five months in a row,” Flaherty said.
Labor force growth accelerated this year, rising an average of 7,900 jobs a month, he said. Flaherty called manufacturing a “star performer,” adding 3,400 jobs since December.
Still, the state has recovered just 83.4% of the 289,400 nonfarm jobs lost during the March-April 2020 COVID-19 lockdown.
Chris DiPentima, president of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said Connecticut’s job growth of 0.9% this year is half the national rate and second slowest in New England. He cited the state’s slow-growth labor force, which is down about 49,000 jobs since January 2020, before the start of the pandemic.
“If every unemployed person in the state was hired tomorrow, we’d still have a staggering 44,000 job openings,” DiPentima said.
Employment in the private sector increased by 900 jobs in June and is up nearly 3% from June 2021 and has recovered 86.9% of jobs since April 2020. Although government jobs increased in June by 800 jobs, it’s down by 1,200 from June 2021.
The public sector has recovered just 44.1% of jobs since the COVID lockdown. The government sector in Connecticut includes federal, state and local jobs and employment at the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribal governments.
Employers are looking hard to fill jobs and are posting “help wanted” signs in most retail stores and other businesses. The number of job openings in Connecticut grew to 120,000 in May, from 111,000 in April, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Which sectors added jobs?
Professional and Business Services, up 1,300 jobs, or 0.6%.
Government posted 800 more jobs, up 0.4%.
Education and Health Services were up 700 jobs, or 0.2%.
Manufacturing posted 600 new jobs, an increase of 0.4%.
Trade, Transportation, and Utilities, up 300 jobs, or 0.1%.
Financial Activities posted 100 jobs, an increase of 0.1%.
Which sectors lost jobs?
Construction and Mining lost 1,800 jobs, down 2.9%.
Leisure and Hospitality, off by 200 jobs, a loss of 0.1%.
Information, down 100 jobs, or 0.3%.
Where in Connecticut were jobs added?
The Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford labor market added 1,700 jobs, up 0.3%
In Waterbury the labor market added 600 jobs, up 0.9%.
Where were jobs lost?
Employers cut 2,600 jobs in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk labor market, down 0.7%.
The New Haven labor market lost 1,000 jobs, off by 0.3%.
The Norwich-New London-Westerly labor market shed 100 jobs, a decline of 0.1%.
The Danbury labor market was unchanged in June.
Stephen Singer can be reached at ssinger@courant.com.
