Connecticut’s unemployment rate ticked up for a second straight month in June despite adding 1,400 jobs, signaling more jobless residents are continuing to come off the sidelines and look for work, labor authorities say.
Initial June employment estimates show Connecticut’s total nonfarm workforce increased to 1,629,600, up 1,400 jobs from May, according to the State Department of Labor. The new jobs included 5,000 private sector positions.
The unemployment rate, however, edged higher from 7.8 percent to 8.1 percent, largely because more people are entering the workforce.
An expanding labor force, officials say, may signal jobseekers are reentering the labor market, sensing better employment prospects.
“Overall job growth is slow, though the private sector continues to show a decent recovery,” said Andy Condon, director of the agency’s Office of Research. “Unfortunately, the jump in our unemployment rate indicates we are not growing jobs fast enough to satisfy the need in our economy.”
So far this year the state has added 6,100 jobs. Connecticut has now recovered 34,900, or 29.7 percent, of the 117,500 total nonfarm jobs lost in the March 2008.
Connecticut Business & Industry Association economist Peter Gioia said the report is likely, “a little better than what might be expected considering the very tepid numbers that we’ve seen on a federal level.”
