A new report issued by the U.S. Conference of Mayors predicts the Greater Hartford area will return to its pre-recession employment levels by the first quarter of 2017. The metropolitan economy is also expected to grow.
According to the report, the Hartford‐West Hartford‐East Hartford metropolitan area saw a loss of 40,700 jobs from its pre-recession peak in the first quarter of 2008. The report also suggests there will be a drop in unemployment figures from 6.1 percent at the end of 2014 down to 5.2 percent at the end of 2018. Connecticut’s current unemployment rate is 5.7 percent.
Greater Hartford is ranked 40th in the country for the size of its gross domestic economy, which was valued at $87.8 billion in 2015. That number is expected to grow to $93 billion in 2017.
Overall, Hartford was ranked 249th in the country out of 381 metropolitan areas for its annual growth rate in product output. From 2012 to 2014, growth was at 0.5 percent. It improved to 1.3 percent in 2015 and is expected to slow down to 0.7 percent in 2016 followed by an uptick of 1.8 percent in 2017.
This is how the state’s five major metropolitan areas rank for annual growth in 2015 and 2016 in output. Connecticut overall saw growth of 1.5 percent in 2015 and 1.2 percent in 2016.
- Bridgeport‐Stamford‐Norwalk, CT 1.9 / 1.8
- Hartford‐West Hartford‐East Hartford, CT 1.3 / 0.7
- New Haven‐Milford, CT 1.1 / 1.0
- Norwich‐New London, CT 0.6 / 1.4
- Worcester, MA‐CT 0.4 / 0.9
