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.
