DOL: Connecticut lost 1,500 jobs in May

The state Department of Labor reported Thursday a net loss of 1,500 jobs in May, the fifth consecutive month of job losses in Connecticut. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.8 percent.

The monthly jobs report was released as Gov. Ned Lamont tried to celebrate a bit of good news: Plans by Amazon to begin hiring next month for 1,800 jobs at a fulfillment center expected to open this summer in North Haven.

“Amazon’s relationship with Connecticut continues to grow as the company is seeing the value of our state as an emerging hub of its northeast operations,” Lamont said. The fulfillment center will be Amazon’s fourth facility in the state.

The DOL says the job losses are not statistically significant at one-tenth of one percent, but Pete Gioia, an economic adviser at the Connecticut Business and Industry Association, noted Connecticut was the only New England state with losses over the first five months. 

Connecticut now has recovered 80.8 percent of the 120,300 seasonally adjusted jobs lost in the Great Recession of 2008. The job recovery is in its 111th month and the state needs 23,100 net new jobs to reach an overall nonfarm employment expansion.  

The private sector has recovered 100 percent of the jobs lost in the recession.  

The jobs report is based on a business payroll survey administered by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.