Connecticut continues to rebound from the declines of early 2020 caused by the COVID-19 shutdown.As of Nov. 2021, jobs had increased for 11 consecutive months and the unemployment rate had fallen rapidly.These trends will continue in 2022 as patrons return to restaurants, stores and theaters. Manufacturing, which had been stable for nearly a decade, was […]
Connecticut continues to rebound from the declines of early 2020 caused by the COVID-19 shutdown.
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As of Nov. 2021, jobs had increased for 11 consecutive months and the unemployment rate had fallen rapidly.
These trends will continue in 2022 as patrons return to restaurants, stores and theaters. Manufacturing, which had been stable for nearly a decade, was on an upward trend before the pandemic and will resume its growth.
Patrick J. Flaherty Director of Research and Information | Connecticut Department of Labor
Routine medical procedures will become, once again, routine. Total employment will achieve its pre-pandemic level as workers who were unemployed, or left the labor force due to the pandemic, return to work.
Our projections are based on labor demand. One risk to the forecast is labor supply — will there be enough workers to fill the jobs that we project?
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While the high “quit rate” has received a great deal of attention, the vast majority of “quits” are leaving one job to take another. This does not reduce overall labor supply.
On the other hand, there are potential workers who have left the labor force for reasons such as fear of the COVID-19 virus or difficulty obtaining child care. Our projections assume there will be progress on these issues by the end of 2022.
Another risk to our projections is the trajectory of the COVID-19 virus and its variants. A vast majority of Connecticut’s workforce has been vaccinated and medical science indicates that this provides a great deal of protection.
Our projections assume that the vaccinations and other public health measures will be successful in keeping the infection rate low in Connecticut — allowing for continued job growth and unemployment rate declines.
