Trade jobs in Connecticut lost

Posted on March 6, 2017

According to recent labor statistics, trade jobs in Connecticut decreased last month.

All in all, Connecticut lost 1,700 net jobs (-0.1%) in December 2016 to a level of 1,678,000 seasonally adjusted. Over the year, nonagricultural employment in the state has declined by 2,000 jobs (-0.1%). November’s originally released job gain of 2,100 was revised downward to a 1,900 gain.

Despite the recent declines in payroll jobs, Connecticut’s unemployment rate for December continued to fall sharply by three tenths of a point to 4.4% – a full percentage point lower than it was a year ago.

Private sector employment decreased by 1,600 (-0.1%, 1,441,500 jobs) in December and was down by 1,000 jobs (-0.1%) over the year. The government supersector fell by 100 jobs (-0.04%, 236,500) last month and remains down over the year (-1,000, -0.4%).

The government supersector includes all federal, state and local employment, including public higher education and casinos located on tribal land. The private education and health services (800, 0.2%, 329,900 jobs) industry supersector added the most jobs last month. All of this gain was in health services (1,400, 0.5%, 265,900 jobs) as private education was lower (-600, -0.9%, 64,000 positions).

This supersector led in annual growth (2,300, 0.7%). Manufacturing (300, 0.2%, 159,500 positions) was slightly higher last month. Manufacturing finished the year up 1,000 jobs over 2015 – a rarity since the 1980’s. The financial activities (200, 0.2%, 132,300) and leisure and hospitality (100, 0.1%, 153,300 jobs) industry supersectors were also slightly higher.

The professional and business services supersector (-1,700, -0.8%, 214,900) led declines both in December and over the year (-2,500, -1.2%) in magnitude, followed by other services (-500, -0.8%, 65,400 jobs). The trade, transportation & utilities (-400, -0.1%, 297,300 jobs) industry supersector also lost jobs due to small losses in retail trade (-200, -0.1%, 180,600) and transportation & utilities weakness (-600, -1.1%, 51,900)