Connecticut added just 500 jobs in June, helping push the unemployment rate from 8 percent to 8.1 percent, according to the state’s Department of Labor.
The small job gains come on the heels of stronger growth in the first five months of the year. The state added 1,000 jobs in May and 6,400 in April. Monthly job gains are averaging 1,800 compared to 8,800 in the first half of 2012 and 5,500 jobs in the first half of 2011.
The unemployment rate had held steady at 8 percent for four prior consecutive months. Since June 2012, it has fallen four-tenths of a percentage point.
Labor officials said the extended school year due to storm disruptions may have inflated typical seasonal job patterns in education and may influence summer hiring going forward.
Leisure and hospitality firms added 1,700 jobs during the month, while construction and mining saw the highest losses, 1,800 jobs, which officials said could be attributed to the second wettest June on record.
Connecticut has now recovered 58,700 jobs, or 48.4% of the 121,200 seasonally adjusted total nonfarm jobs that were lost in the state in the 2008 to 2010 recession.
