Connecticut employers hired 4,100 workers in July, cutting the state’s jobless rate to 5.4 percent, state labor authorities say.
Last month was the third in a row for job gains, the state Labor Department said Thursday, citing preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The U.S. jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent in July.
Connecticut has now recovered 102,000 jobs, or 86 percent, of the total lost during the Great Recession, the agency said. The state’s June jobless rate was 5.7 percent, and was 6.4 percent in July 2014.
Hiring in professional and business services, education and health services, financial activities and government contributed to July’s job gains.
Conversely, construction and mining, information, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation & utilities shed jobs, the state labor department said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released a statement on the jobs report, saying it shows progress.
“Jobs are dramatically up, the unemployment rate is significantly down, and we’re on track to reach private sector job levels that the state hasn’t seen since before the Great Recession,” Malloy said. But we cannot – and will not – stop here. We are going to continue fighting for more good paying jobs with good benefits as we engage with companies like never before.”
