WETHERSFIELD, April 19, 2007 - The state's nonfarm employment in March was 1,692,700, an increase of 1,500 jobs from the revised February figure, the Connecticut Department of Labor announced today. On a seasonally adjusted basis, this is a gain of 19,400 from the March 2006 total of 1,673,300 jobs. This employment data is based on a survey of business establishments.

This positive news proves that our state's economy is truly moving in the right direction," said Governor M. Jodi Rell. "Over the last two years alone, more than 36,000 residents have found good jobs in areas such as construction, insurance, financial services, education, healthcare, and computer systems. These key sectors are vital to the future health of our economy and by continuing to promote partnerships within the business community we can ensure current and future progress in our efforts to grow more jobs in this state."

"Connecticut's employment numbers were on an upward march again, making this the fifth consecutive month of job gains and one of the strongest quarters for job growth," said State Labor Economist John Tirinzonie. "Since briefly stalling in September and October, our economy has generated 10,700 new jobs and has kept pace with the national growth rate over this period. We are now just 8,000 jobs short of our all-time high of 1,700,700 reached in July 2000. If we can sustain this level of growth over the next two quarters, we will finally surpass that figure."

Nonfarm Employment

Despite the continued drop in new home sales, construction employment remained relatively unchanged for the month, but up 1,900 for the first quarter 2007 to reach an all-time high of 68,700. Employment was also up 1,100 over the year, with specialty trade contractors accounting for much of that increase.

After two months of job growth, employment in manufacturing shed 400 jobs from the previous month to settle at 192,800. Over-the-year employment in this industry did show a positive gain, but that was due to a strike in March 2006, which negatively affected employment for that month in this supersector. Nationally, job losses in manufacturing during the last several months have been at a higher rate than in Connecticut.

The trade, transportation and utilities supersector posted a noticeable gain in employment, up 1,000 jobs from February's level. This was mainly due to the 900 increase in retail employment, but overall employment in this sector remained 700 below last year at this time. Both wholesale trade and transportation, warehousing and utilities were relatively unchanged for the month, but still up 1,100 and 300, respectively, from last year.

After dropping 700 jobs during most of 2006, the information supersector has seen an increase in employment of 800 since last October to hit 38,000, rising 300 this month alone. Most of this job gain appears to be in telecommunications.

The financial activities supersector showed a modest gain of 200 last month, with finance and insurance being the generator of these new jobs in this sector. In the financial sector, securities, commodity contracts and other investments continued hiring, while insurance carriers remained relatively flat.

Employment in professional and business services jumped 600 in March, bringing its over-the-year gain to 4,400. Within this supersector, administrative and support and waste management services accounted for 400 of the new jobs, mainly within employment services. The balance of the monthly increase in this supersector was found in professional and scientific services, which includes computer systems design and accounting and tax preparation and bookkeeping services, both of which showed a noticeable increase in employment over last year's figures.

In educational and health services, employment in both educational services and healthcare and social services remained relatively unchanged over the month at 282,700. However, this supersector has been a major source of job growth over the last several years, increasing by 5,500 in the last year alone. The majority of new jobs were created in healthcare and social assistance, 3,900, bringing this number to 228,400, while educational services added the remainder of new positions for current employment of 54,300.

Jobs in the government supersector were down 800 from the February figure, but were up 700 over the year to settle at 245,500.

Labor Market Areas (not seasonally adjusted): The two largest of the nine Labor Market Areas (LMAs), Bridgeport-Stamford and Hartford, added 6,800 and 3,300 jobs, respectively, over the year. These increases were followed by the New Haven LMA, with 1,200 additional jobs; while the Norwich-New London, Torrington and Waterbury LMAs were each up by 400 jobs. The Danbury and Willimantic-Danielson LMAs both added 200 jobs.

Hours and Earnings: The manufacturing production workweek in March 2007, not seasonally adjusted, averaged 42.4 hours, which is an increase of four-tenth of an hour from the March 2006 figure of 42 hours. Average hourly earnings at $20.29, also not seasonally adjusted, were up 71 cents from March 2006. The resulting average weekly wage for manufacturing workers in March 2007, at $860.30, was up $37.94, representing an increase of 4.6 percent from a year ago.

Labor Force Data

Connecticut's labor force was up 13,000 persons from last month, bringing March's total to 1,867,600. This is an increase of 32,100 from the March 2006 figure.

Unemployment: Based on the household survey, the estimate of people unemployed, seasonally adjusted, decreased in March by 800 over the month to 76,800, while the unemployment rate decreased one-tenth of a percentage point. The unemployment rate for March 2007 is 4.1 percent, which is two-tenths of a percentage point lower than it was a year ago when it was 4.3 percent, and three-tenths of a percentage point below the nation's rate of 4.4 percent. The number of unemployed people dropped by 2,600 from last year. Average weekly initial unemployment claims in March 2007 for first-time filers decreased over the month by 335 to 4,008. The average for March was down 51 claims over the year.

Unemployment rates, not seasonally adjusted, were down or unchanged over the year in all of the state's LMAs. In March, the Danbury LMA had the lowest unemployment rate at 3.3 percent. This was followed by Bridgeport-Stamford, at 3.7 percent, Norwich-New London at 3.9 percent, and Enfield at 4.3 percent. The Waterbury area had the highest unemployment rate at 5.5 percent. Over the year, the Bridgeport-Stamford LMA had 800 fewer unemployed people, Norwich-New London had 500 fewer unemployed people, while the New Haven LMA had 300 more unemployed.

Note: The nonfarm employment estimate is derived from a survey of businesses and is a measure of jobs in the state; the unemployment rate is based largely on a household survey and is a measure of the work status of people who live in Connecticut.

Contact: Nancy Steffens (860) 263-6535

4-19-07

Labor market information is available on the Internet at www.ctdol.state.ct.us/lmi

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