Top Federal Policy Decisions Impacting CT's Economy
The three big ones are healthcare, tariffs, and workforce:
- Cuts to Medicaid and healthcare funding impact CT’s healthcare industry—the state’s largest economic driver. If there are fewer dollars available for healthcare then people pullback on healthcare spending and that impacts the state’s healthcare jobs.
- Tariffs. Tariffs impact the cost of goods; those costs are borne by the purchaser of goods. Connecticut supply chain businesses are impacted by tariffs, they are also impacted by any uncertainty around tariff changes.
- The labor force in CT is shrinking right now. It started mid-year and is most likely due to changes in federal immigration policy. About 23% of CT payroll jobs are filled by workers born outside of the contiguous U.S. Employers rely on workers holding federal work authorizations and student visas.