Connecticut has added back approximately 60% of the jobs it lost during the COVID-19 lockdowns of spring 2020, according to a new report from credit rating agency Fitch.
The study, which combines data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics with Fitch’s own metrics, pegged the state’s jobs recovery rate between April 2020 and March 2021 at 60.3%.
That figure places Connecticut just behind the middle of the pack nationally but compares favorably to neighbors such as Massachusetts and New York, which have recovered fewer jobs and taken longer to do so.
Nationally, the job recovery rate between April 2020 and March 2021 is 63%.
More worrying for Connecticut, however, is the number of people who may have exited the state’s labor force since the spring of 2020.
Fitch’s calculations — which combine the official unemployment rate with the percentage of people believed to have left the labor force — indicate the state’s jobless rate could be as high as 17%, assuming those who have left the labor market are now unemployed. Officially, the state’s unemployment rate stands at around 8%.
According to Fitch’s analysis, southern and western states such as Utah, Idaho, South Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska have seen the quickest recoveries in the country.
Hawaii, heavily dependent on travel and tourism, placed last, having recouped less than 30% of the jobs it shed early last year. California, Louisiana, Illinois, Alaska, New Mexico and Wyoming also placed below the 50% mark.
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