Norwich — Representatives of southeastern Connecticut’s biggest employers — Electric Boat, Pfizer and the two casino-owning Indian tribes — painted a rosy picture Friday, touting contracts and projects that have created hundreds of jobs or soon will.

Addressing a breakfast meeting of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut at the Holiday Inn, U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-2nd District, joined a half-dozen other speakers in describing an economic climate that’s better than it’s been in years.

“No one should leave here not feeling optimistic,” said Tony Sheridan, the chamber’s president and chief executive officer. “I think we’re in great shape.”

Courtney said the recent surge in hiring by some major employers was “not just a blip,” but evidence of a lasting recovery.

“Confidence is everything,” he said. “When people are anxious about the future, they go into a crouch.” Not that it’s all “ponies and rainbows,” he added. “We still have some work to do.”

Eastern Connecticut employment has typically lagged behind that of other regions of the state, with layoffs and downsizing at Pfizer and the casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun taking a toll in recent years.

Statewide, the unemployment rate, which peaked at 9.4 percent for five consecutive months in 2010, dropped to 6.4 percent last October, the lowest it had been since November 2008. The New England Economic Partnership, a nonprofit organization dedicated to economic analyses, predicts the rate will remain at that level in 2015.

Courtney, the newly ranking member of the seapower subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, cited state support for improvements at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton and a Navy-funded dredging project scheduled this spring as signs of stability for the region.

“Those investments would not be made if there were profound doubts about the base’s future,” he said, adding that he considered it unlikely the federal government would seek a round of military base closings this year. The Groton base last survived such a process in 2005.

Kristin Fletcher, Electric Boat’s vice president of business development and planning, said the shipbuilder’s latest government contracts, including an $18 billion deal for 10 Virginia-class nuclear attack submarines, the largest shipbuilding contract in history, will provide plenty of skilled jobs for decades to come.

Earlier this month, Jeffrey Geiger, EB’s president, said the company expects to hire about 600 people.

Mohegan Tribal Chairman Kevin Brown, while lamenting Mohegan Sun’s failure to win a Boston-area casino license, said the Mohegans had recommitted themselves to maintaining and upgrading Mohegan Sun, their Uncasville casino, while also pursuing nongaming ventures. He said a 400-room hotel that Mohegan Sun plans to build will provide 150 jobs.

Brown said Arooga’s, a Mohegan-owned sports bar and restaurant in Uncasville, would hire 100 people and that new dining options at the casino would provide another 130 jobs. An off-reservation restaurant the tribe opened in Waterford created 27 jobs, he said.

Rodney Butler, the Mashantucket Pequot chairman, said his tribe was focused on the 80-store Tanger outlet mall under construction at Foxwoods Resort Casino. The $120 million project, scheduled to open May 21, has provided more than 400 construction jobs and, when completed, will employ more than 900 people, he said.

Ken Hiscoe, Pfizer’s director of government relations, said the drugmaker remains committed to maintaining a research-and-development presence in Connecticut. While the company has downsized locally and pulled out of New London, he called the company’s Groton location “a thriving, vibrant site,” the largest in Pfizer’s global network.

“We’ve hired over 400 employees in the last two years, including 10 last week,” he said.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com

Twitter: @bjhallenbeck