Powered by growth in the business services, hospitality and manufacturing sectors, Connecticut added approximately 7,800 jobs in May, according to the state Department of Labor, dropping the official unemployment rate from 8.1% to 7.7%.
The announcement added some positive momentum to the state’s recovery, which appeared to stall in February when the jobless rate ticked up to 8.5% after a few months of modest gains. While Connecticut has since course-corrected, unemployment numbers have stayed high relative to the U.S. overall; a more significant drop, as seen in May, suggests the state’s reopening is finally paying off in terms of job creation.
“Jobs are up more than 18,000 so far in 2021, and the unemployment rate is lower than it was more than five years after the start of the great recession of 2008,” said Patrick Flaherty, director of the Labor Department’s Office of Research. “Month-to-month changes are difficult to interpret this year due to unusual seasonal patterns, but the overall trends are positive.”
Labor officials said growth was strongest in the education, business services, manufacturing, leisure and hospitality sectors. Retail spending in May actually declined while leisure spending increased, indicating that Connecticut consumers are redirecting their spending away from stores and toward restaurants and tourism.
The government, construction, finance, information, utilities and transportation sectors all shed jobs, though not enough to erase all of May’s gains.
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