{"id":153136,"date":"2025-09-22T13:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153136\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T13:00:20","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T13:00:20","slug":"labor-force-declines-signal-weakening-job-market-cbia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153136\/","title":{"rendered":"Labor Force Declines Signal ‘Weakening’ Job Market \u00bb CBIA"},"content":{"rendered":"

August brought a third straight month of job growth to Connecticut, with employers adding 900 positions amid signs of stress in the national and state labor markets. <\/p>\n

The unemployment rate held steady at 3.8%\u2014tied for 22nd lowest in the country\u2014for a fourth consecutive month, although first-time unemployment claims increased 40% over July filings.<\/p>\n

There were 4,066 first-time unemployment claims in August, 46% more than a year ago.<\/p>\n

CBIA president and CEO Chris DiPentima said the modest job growth numbers, while encouraging, were \u201ctempered by the growing underlying weakness in the labor market.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cConnecticut\u2019s added just 3,920 jobs through the first eight months of the year\u2014at 0.2%, that\u2019s half the pace\u00a0of national job growth, which is also slowing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur labor force numbers are really concerning, with the population of those working or looking for work down 4,100 people last month alone and 12-month growth essentially flat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hiring Challenges<\/p>\n

Connecticut\u2019s labor force has grown just 1% over pre-pandemic levels, second-slowest in the region after New Hampshire, and well behind the national average of 3.9%.<\/p>\n

DiPentima highlighted Connecticut\u2019s population growth struggles, noting the state ranked 40th in the country for net domestic migration last year, losing almost 6,000 residents to other states.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational migration offset those losses\u2014more than 36,000 people immigrated here last year, with 20% of Connecticut\u2019s workforce born outside the U.S.,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"Connecticut\u2019s labor force has grown just 1% over pre-pandemic levels, well behind the national average of 3.9%.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, immigration alone is not the solution for attracting the residents and workers needed\u00a0for long-term, sustainable job and economic growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

CBIA\u2019s\u00a02025 Survey of Connecticut Businesses<\/a>, released earlier this month, showed that hiring and retention is difficult for 76% of employers, with skills gaps and the high cost of living cited as key factors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses are doing what they can\u2014private sector weekly wages are up 3.2% over the last 12 months, and workforce development is the top investment priority for most employers,\u201d DiPentima said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmployers noted that lowering healthcare and energy costs must be lawmakers\u2019 top priorities, with housing and childcare also among Connecticut\u2019s main affordability challenges.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Regional, National Picture<\/p>\n

Connecticut\u2019s 12-month job growth rate is 0.7%, tied for 27th fastest among all states and the best in the New England region. <\/p>\n

Rhode Island\u2019s growth rate is 0.3%, followed by Vermont (0.3%), Massachusetts (0.2%), New Hampshire (0%), and Maine (-0.3%).<\/p>\n

The U.S. average is 0.8%, with the country seeing a dramatic slowdown<\/a> in recent months.<\/p>\n

\"12-MonthConnecticut\u2019s 12-month job growth rate is 0.7%, tied for 27th fastest among all states.<\/p>\n

South Carolina has the best year-over-year job growth of any state at 3.1%, followed by Hawaii (1.9%), New Mexico (1.9%), Utah (1.7%), and South Carolina (1.6%).<\/p>\n

Connecticut\u2019s labor participation rate declined slightly in August to 64.6%, 16th best in the country.<\/p>\n

Workplaces remained stable, with the state\u2019s voluntary quits rate falling to 1.3%, a 12-month low and tied with Massachusetts for the lowest in the country. The U.S. quits rate was 2%.<\/p>\n

Job openings fell 5.3% to 71,000, with the hiring rate falling to 2.9%, tied for 45th among all states and four-tenths of a point lower than the national average.<\/p>\n

Industry Sectors, Labor Markets<\/p>\n

Four of Connecticut\u2019s 10 major industry sectors posted employment gains in August, led by education and health services, which added 1,700 jobs (0.5%).<\/p>\n

Manufacturing gained 700 positions (0.5%), the sector\u2019s best monthly performance in more than three years (excluding June 2025, which was impacted by the end of the Pratt & Whitney machinists\u2019 strike).<\/p>\n

However, the sector has only recovered 39% of pandemic job losses, with year-over-year employment down 1,800 (-1.2%).<\/p>\n

Other services added 500 jobs (0.8%) and financial activities gained 200 positions (0.2%), with year-over-year gains at 2,500 (2.1%)\u2014the best percentage performance of any sector\u2014and pandemic recovery at 22%.<\/p>\n

Construction and mining employment declined for a third consecutive month, down 600 jobs (-0.9%) in August for a 12-month loss of 1,400 (-2.2%). <\/p>\n

\"ConnecticutFour of Connecticut\u2019s 10 main industry sectors have recovered all jobs lost in March and April of 2020 to pandemic disruptions.<\/p>\n

Trade, transportation, and utilities shed 500 jobs (-0.2%)\u2014the fourth consecutive month of losses\u2014with year-over-year gains at 400 (0.1%).<\/p>\n

Information lost 300 jobs (-1%), followed by professional and business services (-300; -0.1%), government (-300; -0.1%), and leisure and hospitality (-200; -01%).<\/p>\n

Three of the state\u2019s five major labor market areas posted gains in August, with Bridgeport-Stamford-Danbury (0.1%) and Waterbury-Shelton (0.3%) each adding 500 jobs.<\/p>\n

Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford\u2014the state\u2019s largest labor market\u2014gained 200 jobs (0.03%).<\/p>\n

Norwich-New London-Willimantic (-0.3%) and New Haven (-0.1%) each lost 400 jobs last month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August brought a third straight month of job growth to Connecticut, with employers adding 900 positions amid signs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[84,39101,1371,9231,10420,56,54,55,14480],"class_list":["post-153136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jobs","tag-business","tag-connecticut-economy","tag-jobs","tag-jobs-report","tag-manufacturing","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-workforce"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}