Connecticut’s unemployment rate rose slightly in June, despite the addition of 7,900 jobs, from 5.7 to 5.8 percent, the state Department of Labor reported Thursday.
And the department also revised downward its report from one month ago, changing 1,400 jobs lost to 4,000.
“Connecticut’s large swing in job growth from May to June mirrored a similar pattern nationally,” said Andy Condon, director of the department’s Office of Research. “While we can’t pinpoint an exact cause, it seems likely to be due to a change in seasonal pattern rather than an actual swing in labor markets.”
The state has added 17,900 jobs over the past 12 months, and Connecticut now has recovered 99,200 or 83.3 percent of the 119,100 jobs it lost in the last recession, which ended in February 2010. The private sector has regained 106,200 or 95.1 percent of the jobs it lost in the last recession.
Seven of the state’s 10 major industry super-sectors added jobs in June, led by financial activities, which grew by 2,200 positions. Gains also were recorded in: education and health services; government; professional and business services; leisure and hospitality; information; and other services.
The construction and mining super-sector recorded the largest loss, dropping 800 jobs. Losses also were recorded in manufacturing and in the trade, transportation and utilities super-sector.
Peter Gioia, the chief economist for the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, said the latest labor department reported has generally good news for the state, “but it also points to some problems with the volatility of the numbers we’ve been seeing.”
“Probably the most encouraging,” Gioia added, was the job growth in the high-paying financial services field.
The New Haven and Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk labor market areas added jobs, recording gains of 5,600 and 3,300, respectively. The other two areas, Norwich-New London-Westerly and Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford, lost 800 and 100 jobs, respectively.