🔒Slow private-sector growth, contracting gov’t jobs will continue in 2018

Since the end of the Great Recession, Connecticut has experienced slow private-sector job growth and a contracting government sector. These trends will continue in 2018.

Declining enrollment (due to demographics) and a tight fiscal situation will constrain the education sector while the aging population will continue to drive demand for health care. Declines in retail employment are being at least partially offset by growth in the warehousing sector.

The manufacturing sector is hiring due to demand from the defense industry and to replace retiring workers. Finance, which continued to contract in the first years after the end of the Great Recession, has been expanding over the past year. Connecticut finance employment will continue to grow if the positive trends in the national financial markets continue in 2018.

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