Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

September 17, 2020

CT adds 20,400 jobs in August

HBJ File Photo Downtown Hartford skyline.
By Sean Teehan

Connecticut added more than 20,000 payroll jobs in August -- a slight increase from July's jobs numbers -- even as employment in the state remained 7% below the same time last year.

The state Department of Labor (DOL) on Thursday said Connecticut gained 20,400 net non-agricultural jobs last month for a total of 1,566,600 seasonally adjusted jobs. 

“Connecticut job gains topped 20,000 for the third month in a row, however, the pace of gains has slowed after the 77,300 June increase,” said Patrick Flaherty, acting director of the DOL's Office of Research.

The largest job gains in August were in the sectors of education and health (up 2.7%) ; leisure and hospitality (up 3.6%); and government (up 1.7%), Flaherty said. Federal government jobs also grew, mostly owing to hiring employees for the decennial Census.

Meanwhile, the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics found Connecticut's seasonally adjusted unemployment is 8.1%, about 2% better than July's rate. However the state DOL warned that the actual jobless rate is likely higher as a result of challenges related to how that data is collected.

The U.S. jobless rate in August was 8.4%, down 1.8 percentage points from July’s rate of 10.2%.

Other August job gainers included companies in trade, transportation and utilities (2,500); professional and business services (1,400) and financial activities (1,100).

The Hartford region added the most jobs in August with 9,500, followed by the New Haven region with 6,200 jobs added and Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk with 5,100 jobs added.
 

Sign up for Enews

Most Recent

Most Recent

1 Comments

Fred Carstensen
September 17, 2020

I don't understand where Ct DoL is getting its numbers. As of this morning, the BLS reports CT unemployment at 11.9%, 6th worst in the nation. Even more striking, this morning's BLS report (UI initial filings: https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf) reports nearly 30 MILLION Americans are now receiving UI benefits. That translates to an unemployment rate of about 18.5%. That number of recipients has been increasingly the last few weeks, suggesting a deteriorating labor market. Very worrying.

Order a PDF