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August 20, 2020

CT continues economic recovery amid pandemic, adding 26K positions in July

Photo | Contributed State Department of Labor headquarters in Wethersfield.
By Joe Cooper

Connecticut employers continued to add thousands of jobs in July, mainly in the leisure and hospitality industry, as the state looks to recover a historic amount of positions lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, labor officials say.

The state Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday said Connecticut gained 26,500 net jobs last month for a total of 1,540,400 seasonally adjusted jobs. Compared to July 2019, nonagricultural employment is down sharply by 146,00, or 8.7%, seasonally adjusted jobs.

Meanwhile, June's historic job gain of 73,300 jobs were revised upward by 4,000 jobs, DOL said.

Andy Condon, who leads DOL’s Office of Research, said July's jobs report is encouraging, but added that the gain is only a result of "unprecedented job losses" caused by the public health crisis.

Earlier this month, labor officials said Connecticut's unemployment trust fund could become insolvent in the coming weeks as the state has paid out billions of dollars in benefits since the COVID-19 pandemic struck in mid-March. The state, they said, needs an emergency federal loan to maintain benefits for hundreds of thousands of individuals who are unemployed. However, the move could mean higher taxes on local businesses.

In July, DOL said the private sector recovered 29,100, or 2.2%, of jobs and are now down by 126,100 compared to the same month last year. The government supersector, however, declined by 2,600 jobs in July to a total of 215,600 positions, and is down 20,200 jobs year-over-year. 

Eight of the 10 major industry supersectors added jobs in July, DOL said.

Leisure and hospitality gained 11,600 jobs, up 11.1%, and trade, transportation and utilities also added 7,800 positions. 

Job gainers also included "other services" (4,300 jobs added); professional and business services (3,000 jobs added); construction and mining (1,100 jobs added); education and health (600 jobs added); manufacturing (600 jobs added); and financial activities (300 jobs added).

The Hartford region led job gains, adding 12,300 jobs. The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area added 9,200 net jobs, the New Haven area added 5,100 and the Norwich-New London, Westerly, R.I., region added 3,100 positions.

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