Julie Kushner

Democratic Labor and Commerce Leaders Welcome Good News on Connecticut’s Job Growth

HARTFORD – The Democratic chair of Connecticut’s Labor Committee and the vice-chair of its Commerce Committee today welcomed the news of increasing job growth and declining unemployment in the state, according to a new jobs report from the state Department of Labor.

State Senator Julie Kushner (D-Danbury), who is Senate Chair of the Labor and Public Employees Committee, and Senator Christine Cohen (D-Guilford), who is Senate Vice-Chair of the Commerce Committee, said the report (https://www1.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi/laborsit.pdf) shows Connecticut’s private-sector businesses gained 5,500 jobs last month, moving private-sector state employment up to 1.42 million jobs, with nearly 46,000 new private-sector jobs created in Connecticut over the past year. Unemployment dropped three-tenths of one percent to 4.6%.

“It’s gratifying to see that our commitment not only to Connecticut businesses but also to the employees who make them successful continues to pay off,” Sen. Kushner said. “Higher wages, more jobs, and less unemployment are the hallmarks of successful public policy, and that’s what we have been working toward in the Labor Committee for years, with a focus on a higher minimum wage, paid family leave, and working conditions that empower and reward employees, which encourages more hiring and more job satisfaction.”

“As a small-business owner myself and as vice-chair of the Commerce Committee, I have been working across the aisle with my colleagues for years to invest in job training, business tax credits, rollbacks of regulations and a host of other measures to ensure that Connecticut businesses are poised to take advantage of all of the economic opportunities they can,” Sen. Cohen said. “As we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic I think we’re going to see much more job and wage growth, and I’m particularly pleased that a lot of it is happening in the greater New Haven area, which has become a real hub for biotech in New England.”

Connecticut has now recovered about 85% of the private-sector jobs its lost since the COVID-19 pandemic struck the nation and the globe in 2020. The overall state employment level is 1.646 million jobs, including government and farm jobs.

Leading supersector job growth leaders for March in Connecticut include 2,900 new jobs in professional & business services, 1,300 in construction and mining, 900 in trade, transportation and utilities, 500 in leisure and hospitality, 300 in manufacturing, and 200 in education and health services. Meanwhile, the public government sector lost 900 jobs last month and has recovered less than half of the jobs it has lost since the COVID-19 pandemic began two years ago.

Average hourly earnings in March were $33.98 (up 50 cents an hour from a year ago) and the average private-sector weekly wage was $1,152. The New Haven labor market area had the largest year-over year job growth rate at 3.9%, followed by Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk at 3.7% and the Waterbury area at 2.8%. 

“Connecticut has had two consecutive months of solid job increases to build on the growth we saw last year,” said Patrick Flaherty, Director of the Office of Research at the Connecticut Department of Labor. “Construction and manufacturing have shown particular strength in recent months. The unemployment rate declined 2.4% points in the past year. Before the pandemic, there had not been a 12-month period with a decline that large since the 1970s.”