In new year, CT sees a spike in job openings; 92K positions unfilled
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Connecticut saw a spike in job openings during the month of January, according to newly released federal data.
Connecticut employers reported 92,000 job openings at the end of January, up from 73,000 open jobs in December, a monthly increase of 26%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
A year earlier, in January 2024, Connecticut employers reported 90,000 job openings, BLS data shows.
Nationally, Connecticut was one of only six states to report an increase in job openings. The others were Arizona (+53,000), Pennsylvania (+45,000), Massachusetts and Tennessee (+26,000 each), and Vermont. Two states (Delaware and Oklahoma) saw a decline in job openings.
Nationally, the number of job openings changed little, and stood at 7.74 million at the end of January. That number is down from 8.49 million open jobs in January 2024.
Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the spike in job openings was surprising, since there usually isn’t a big increase from December to January.
In fact, he said the increase in job openings was the highest December-to-January bump in a decade.
“One explanation could be that companies were expecting tariffs/reshoring, so they are trying to get ahead of the potential increase in demand by adding jobs/capacity,” DiPentima said. “This is certainly contrary to the qualitative data that we are now hearing that companies are pausing hiring, including the state of CT.”
DiPentima said the data seems to be adding to the “uncertainty of what will happen amid the federal economic policies,” including the soon-to-be expiring 2017 federal tax cuts that “drove significant hiring, wage increases and investments in 2018.”
In addition, an estimated 36,000 Connecticut workers quit their jobs in January, BLS data shows, up from 27,000 in December and 32,000 a year ago.
The number of January hires in Connecticut was 67,000, up from 53,000 hires in December and 61,000 hires a year ago.
Connecticut companies also collectively laid off 18,000 workers in January, up from 16,000 layoffs in December.
The state Department of Labor reported last week that Connecticut employers added 2,300 jobs in January, with the unemployment rate increasing one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.3%.
The U.S. unemployment rate is 4.1%.
For all of 2024, Connecticut employers added 16,000 jobs across industries, while the labor force hit a new high of 1.96 million workers, DOL said, adding that the state labor force participation rate was 65%, compared to 62.6% nationally.
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