CT Employment Drops For Three Months In A Row

Connecticut lost almost 6,000 jobs in September, the third straight month that the state’s employment total has declined. But some experts believe the huge losses may be an anomaly. WNPR’s Harriet Jones reports.

A loss of 5,900 jobs in September was something of a surprise. The state had enjoyed modest gains in the spring, and losses at the end of the summer could mostly be attributed to the end of temporary work for the census. September is usually a month that sees a seasonal uptick in employment. Nick Perna, economic adviser to Webster Bank, says it’s worth reading the numbers more closely.

“It was very much concentrated in the private part of educational services, so that would be colleges, private high schools, private grammar schools. While they’re softening it just seems to me that that was too much to be credible to happen in one month, and if I’m right that there’s some technical issue, then we should see this reverse itself in October, November—very soon in fact.”

The unemployment rate, which is calculated on a different survey, remains at 9.1%, level with August’s rate. The numbers mean the state has lost 3,000 jobs since September of 2009.

For WNPR, I'm Harriet Jones.