Although job growth has been modest in Connecticut in recent years, a handful of industries added thousands of jobs in 2018, federal data show.
A new report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), a unit of the U.S. Department of Labor, said the transportation and warehousing sector led total job gains in Connecticut last year, expanding by 2,682 jobs. That is nearly double the gain compared to 2017, when the industry added 1,343 jobs.
The “other services (except public administration)” industry, meantime, narrowly trailed in total growth adding 2,623 jobs in 2018. Manufacturing, administrative/waste management and management of companies/enterprises also added 1,690, 1,360 and 1,310 jobs, respectively.
Other industries adding Connecticut jobs in 2018 included health care and social assistance (994); accommodation and food services (985); construction (458); and educational services (368).
While the BLS report underscores a win for many of those local industries, there were several that shed a significant amount of jobs in 2018.
The decline of brick-and-mortar stores forced Connecticut’s retail industry to shed 2,802 jobs last year, BLS said. Sectors trailing in job declines were finance and insurance (2,543 jobs lost) and government (2,386), which was mainly driven by retirements and hiring freezes. Of the total government decline, municipal governments shed 1,973 jobs and the state cut 487 jobs.
BLS said the government sector will likely continue to shrink in 2019. In June, the industry recorded a decline of 2,000 jobs.
Connecticut’s wholesale trade industry also lost 942 jobs in 2018.
In 2019, the state’s jobs picture has recorded mixed results.
The state shed an estimated 1,400 jobs in June, and lost another 1,900 jobs in May. Connecticut added 500 jobs in April and another 300 in March.
Connecticut’s unemployment rate stands at 3.7 percent as its jobless population stood at 70,900 in June. The state has almost 1.7 million seasonally adjusted jobs, according to the state Department of Labor.
For the year, nonagricultural employment in the state has climbed by 4,000 jobs.
Since the 2008-2010 Great Recession, BLS said Connecticut has increased its workforce by 0.2 percent. Total private sector employment, meantime, has grown by 0.4 percent.
