Connecticut lost 3,500 jobs in November as the state’s unemployment rate rose slightly to 4.6 percent, the Department of Labor reported Thursday.
Connecticut, which had a 4.5 percent jobless rate one month earlier, has grown 5,000 jobs over the past 12 months.
“Job growth in 2017 has slowed significantly since peaking in the second quarter,” said Andy Condon, director of the labor department’s Office of Research. Private-sector employment declined by 3,300 jobs in November but remains up 2,800 positions for the year.
Seven of the state’s 10 industry super-sectors lost jobs in November, topped by leisure and hospitality, which declined by 2,000 positions. Losses also were recorded in: professional and business services; construction and mining; trade, transportation and utilities; government; manufacturing; and retail.
Only two super-sectors, financial activities and other services, gained jobs, while the education and health services super-sector remained unchanged.
Connecticut now has recovered 83,300 of the 119,100 jobs lost in the last recession, about 69.9 percent. The private sector, with the latest slip, now has regained 89.7 percent of the jobs it lost in the last downturn, or 100,200 out of 111,700.
The Norwich-New London-Westerly labor market area lost 1,100 jobs in November, recording the largest decline, while losses also were recorded in the Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, New Haven and Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford markets.
The Danbury market gained 400 jobs in November while Waterbury added 100.