Employment and wages in Connecticut’s largest counties last year continued to grow at a slower pace than the rest of the country, new federal data shows.
A report released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) says employment increased by just 1 percent in Connecticut’s four “large” counties from Dec. 2017 to Dec. 2018. That’s no surprise, as statewide job growth during that period was 0.6 percent.
Meantime, national employment grew by 1.5 percent in 2018.
BLS said just two of the state’s four large counties — defined as those with 2017 average employment of 75,000 or more — recorded jobs increases last year.
New Haven County led employment growth, up 0.7 percent, followed by Hartford County at 0.4 percent. Employment in Fairfield County was unchanged and New London County had a 0.1 percent decrease.
State employment last year was highest in Hartford (517,472) and Fairfield (426,528) counties. The state’s four largest counties accounted for 85 percent of the state’s total employment in Dec. 2018.
Nationally, about 85 percent of the 349 largest counties registered employment increases for the year. Midland, Texas, had the largest percentage increase of 10 percent and Bay, Fla., had the largest decline, at 5.6 percent.
Connecticut’s jobs picture, meantime, has worsened in 2019 as the state has lost about 300 jobs since January. The state Department of Labor recently announced the state shed 1,500 jobs in May.
Wages in Connecticut are also growing at a modest pace.
In 2018, wages in all four large counties grew well below the national increase of 3.2 percent. Hartford County’s 2.9-percent increase ranked No. 187 among the nation’s 349 largest counties. Wage increases in New London (1.9 percent), New Haven (0.9 percent) and Fairfield (0.4 percent) counties ranked No. 265, No. 316 and No. 325 in the U.S., respectively.
The state’s four counties with employment below 75,000 — Middlesex, Tolland, Litchfield and Windham — all had average weekly wages below the national average of $1,144.
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