State's December labor stats offer mixed signals
Connecticut lost 1,700 jobs in December, and November’s previously reported gain of 2,100 jobs was revised downward to 1,900 jobs gained, the state Department of Labor announced Thursday.
Despite the declines, the state’s unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a point last month to 4.4 percent, a full percentage point lower than it was a year ago.
“Connecticut’s December employment numbers continued the recent trend of mixed signals from the two monthly employment series produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics,” Andy Condon, director of the department’s Office of Research, said in a statement. “While we do not yet have supporting data, a combination of tight labor markets, an aging workforce, increased self-employment and growing out-of-state commuting could explain slowing job growth and rapidly declining unemployment rates.”
The number of jobs in the Norwich-New London-Westerly labor market was unchanged in December.
Pete Gioia, an economist with the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, noted that the state has recovered only 70 percent of the jobs lost during the 2008-10 recession.
“We have a significant challenge going forward in terms of improving our economy, particularly in creating jobs,” he said.
December’s biggest job gains were in education and health services (800); manufacturing (300); financial activities (200) and leisure and hospitality (100).
Losses were seen in professional and business services (-1,700); other services (-500); trade, transportation and utilities (-400); information (-300); construction and mining (-100) and government (-100).
Don Klepper-Smith, chief economist for DataCore Partners of Durham, said the numbers were cause for concern. “They reflect continued softness in Connecticut’s labor markets and underscore the fact that employers simply aren't adding a significant number of jobs given the backdrop of fiscal uncertainty," he wrote in a newsletter.
— Brian Hallenbeck
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