CONNECTICUT — Connecticut has seen significant economic disruption from the coronavirus pandemic, but the employment situation may be improving somewhat, according to a new report from the state Department of Labor.
Online job listings have seen a positive upturn lately in Connecticut, according to DOL. There were 4,401 new ads for the week ending May 23, which was up 53 percent from the previous week and up 11 percent over four weeks.
The federal Labor Department released Friday found that there were 2.5 million jobs added to the economy in May, which was far better than projections of millions of job losses.
Still, the level of new job listings aren’t near what they were before the pandemic began to significantly affect the Connecticut economy. There were more than 8,000 new job listings for the week of March 7.
The listings grew and shrank on a weekly basis in the earlier part of the year, but job listings have seen a sharp downturn starting in mid-March. There were a little over 5,000 listings for the week of March 14, a little over 6,000 for the week of March 21. Postings reached their lowest level of the year for the week of May 16 with roughly 3,000 postings.
The report from DOL looks at first-time online jobs and jobs reposted from the previous month from more than Internet job boards, corporate boards and smaller job sites. It is meant to offer a quick snapshot into weekly job trends in the state, according to the report.
Unemployment trends during the pandemic are different than the Great Reccesion in Connecticut, wrote Matthew Krzyzek, an economist with the state Department of Labor. The Great Recession hit manufacturing, construction and administrative and support service jobs the hardest during the weeks with the most number of unemployment claims. During the pandemic the accommodation and food service, health care and social assistance and retail trade sectors were hit the hardest.
Unemployment claims in 2020 are more likely to be younger and female compared to the Great Recession, which hit the manufacturing and construction sectors harder. Workers in the manufacturing and construction sectors are on average older and more likely to be male, according to Krzyzek.
Nearly every job sector has seen a drop in online help wanted ads; one notable exception is the transportation and warehousing sector, which saw an increase in job postings mainly related to delivery services.
Registered nurse positions had the most new job ads with 163 for the week ending May 16. The next closest was for software developers with 126 ads followed by computer occupations with 87 ads. Retail salespersons had 76 new job listings for the same week, which was down from 105 new listings on April 18. Registered nurses saw even greater demand four weeks prior with 292 new job ads posted for the week of April 18.
The State of Connecticut posted the most help wanted ads with 92 followed by the Army National Guard with 78 for the week ending May 16, according to DOL’s report. The week before that the Army National Guard had 16 new ads and the state had 50 new ads.
Health care and social assistance jobs had the most job postings in April with more than 10,500 followed by finance and insurance with 4,110 postings and retail trade with 3,888 posts.
Employers with the most job ads in April include:
- Hartford Healthcare: 544
- Yale-New Haven Health System: 530
- Cigna Corporation: 468
- State of Connecticut: 401
- UnitedHealth Group: 355
- Lockheed Martin Corporation: 338
- Trinity Health: 269
- Aetna Incorporated: 265
- Instacart: 255
- Deloitte: 242
Connecticut’s occupations with the most job ads in April:
- Registered Nurses: 3,368
- Computer Occupations, All Other: 1,511
- Software Developers, Applications: 1,489
- Retail Salespersons: 1,156
- Managers, All Other: 1,077
- Sales Representatives, Wholesale and Manuf.: 1,005
- First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers: 851
- Customer Service Representatives: 833
- Medical and Health Services Managers: 792
- Laborers and Freight, Stock, and Material Movers: 767
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