While Connecticut’s jobless rate continues to decline, employee wages and hours remain stuck in neutral.
The state’s private sector workweek averaged 32.8 hours in February, down two-tenths of an hour from a year earlier when the workweek averaged 33 hours, according to data from the state Department of Labor. Meanwhile, average weekly pay stood at $929.55 at the end of February, down $5.01 or 0.5 percent from a year earlier. Average hourly earnings did see a small 2 cent jump to $28.34.
The numbers indicate that while Connecticut employers are slowly adding some new jobs they aren’t giving raises or adding hours for existing staff.
It will be interesting to see how the state’s recent minimum wage hikes impact employee pay and hours. It likely won’t change things overnight, since the new $10.10 minimum wage doesn’t go into effect until 2017. However, the state’s minimum wage did increase from $8.25 to $8.70 on Jan. 1. Further increases could raise the state’s average hourly wage, but decrease the length of the average workweek as employers cut hours to reduce costs.
