Connecticut's unemployment rate continues to drop and is now at 5.8 percent, down from November’s 6 percent. Connecticut added 600 jobs in December with job growth in six of ten supersectors. This was the 12 consecutive month of job growth.
Connecticut has recovered about 3 quarters of the 292,000 jobs lost during the COVID lockdown.
Connecticut Department of Labor Director of Research Patrick Flaherty says December’s job growth was slower than it has been in previous months. With no traditional big jump in temporary workers, he says the omicron variant and supply chain issues impacted the labor numbers. He added that there are a lot of unfilled positions, businesses looking to hire a new workforce.
Two of the six Connecticut Labor Market Areas had monthly employment gains, while four had job declines in December. The Danbury LMA added 300 jobs as did the New Haven area. The Danbury market area grew by .4 percent since last month. The Danbury Labor Market Area added 2.700 jobs in a year, growth of 3.8 percent.
The Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk area posted the largest monthly job loss of 1,500 positions. This was followed by the Norwich-New London-Westerly area, the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford area and the Waterbury area.
