State lost 7,600 non-farm jobs in September; unemployment rate continues to fall
Connecticut lost an estimated 7,600 non-farm jobs last month, the first such decline in five months, but the unemployment rate fell, too, dropping one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.2 percent, the state Department of Labor reported Monday.
The national unemployment rate for September was 5.1 percent.
August’s jobs gain in Connecticut, originally estimated at 3,200, was revised upward to 5,400. The state has now added an estimated 27,000 non-farm jobs in the past year.
“September job losses were widespread, but annual job growth still remains relatively strong,” Andy Condon, director of the labor department’s Office of Research, said in a statement. “Some of the apparent decline is due to technical seasonal adjustment issues and does not represent actual job loss. This is particularly true in the education-related sectors.”
Of the state’s four major labor markets, only the Norwich-New London-Westerly area posted a seasonally adjusted monthly job gain, adding 400 jobs since August.
The leisure and hospitality “supersector” added 2,400 jobs — 2,000 in accommodation and food services and 400 in arts, entertainment and recreation. Financial activities, which added 100 jobs, was the only other supersector to post an employment gain.
Education and health services, which lost 3,500 jobs, accounted for 46.1 percent of the overall monthly jobs decline. With schools opening well before Labor Day, it’s likely that the seasonal-adjustment process overstated education employment in August and understated it in September, according to the labor department’s report.
In his “bottom line assessment” of the jobs report, Don Klepper-Smith, chief economist and director of research for New Haven-based DataCore Partners, said September’s jobs loss was cause for concern.
Given U.S. job gains of 142,000 in September, Connecticut’s numbers for the month were “vastly below expectations,” Klepper-Smith said.
The economist said he expects a slowdown in hiring over the next year, less business investment in both capital and labor, and greater emphasis on cost controls with an eye towards increased productivity.
Twitter: @bjhallenbeck
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