(Wethersfield, CT) – Today, Connecticut Department of Labor (CTDOL) Interim Commissioner Dante Bartolomeo announced that the state’s October unemployment rate was 6.4%, down 0.4% from September, marking the fifth consecutive month of unemployment rate declines. Connecticut continued to grow jobs and added another 5,300 jobs in October; September job growth numbers were revised up from 4,700 to 6,500.
Commissioner Bartolomeo said, “Both the job numbers and the unemployment rate continue to move in the right direction. The jobs numbers especially give us a reason to be optimistic that these trends will carry through the rest of 2021. There is still work to do across all sectors to regain the jobs lost during the pandemic shutdown, but the data signal a stable economic recovery is underway. We’ve been saying this consistently, but it bears repeating that this steady improvement is in part because Connecticut residents have taken the virus seriously and responded admirably by wearing masks, getting vaccinated, and socially distancing. This has helped keep the virus in check and our economy is stronger for it.”
CTDOL Director of Research Patrick Flaherty said, “A few notable points with this report: each quarter job growth has accelerated throughout the year, a pattern we expect to continue into the 4th quarter of 2021. Also, while there’s no doubt that the pandemic severely damaged Connecticut businesses and our workforce, market watchers like to see these kinds of broad job gains that reach across a variety of industry sectors—it’s indicative of a fundamentally healthy economy. It’s going to take time to recover completely.”
With the drop in the unemployment rate below 6.5%, the agency is estimating that Connecticut will trigger off Extended Benefits by early next year. Extended Benefits, a 13-week extension to regular state unemployment benefits, expire when the state’s three-month average unemployment rate falls below 6.5%. Approximately 20,000 of the 45,000 weekly filers are currently using Extended Benefits.
TOPLINE POINTS FROM THE REPORT
- Connecticut has now regained 72.8 % of the 292,400 jobs lost during the Covid-19 shutdown.
- Private Sector Payrolls rose by 5,900 positions (0.4%) in October and are up by 40,300 (3.0%) jobs from October 2020.
- Healthcare and Hospitality and are among six sectors that grew.
- Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services has regained all the jobs lost during the pandemic.
- Manufacturing, Construction, and two other sectors declined.
#DOLDaily video with economist Patrick Flaherty: Major Takeaways from the October Labor Report
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For immediate release: November 18, 2021
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