∙ Employment In Connecticut’s Major Industries – May 2012

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Six of Connecticut’s ten major employing industries had job increases in May 2012, while three of the had declines and one was unchanged. Gaining industries were led by education and health services (+1,600, 0.5%). Both educational services (+800, 1.3%) and health care and social assistance (+800, 0.5%), had identical numerical gains. Government also added 1,600 jobs (0.7%). The entire public administration gain came from the local government portion (+2,600, 1.7%), while state (-800, -1.2%) and federal (-200, -1.1%) government experienced over-the-month declines. Local government education job counts are often volatile during the transition to summer, so these gains may not hold up in future months. On-going U.S. postal service reductions continue to pull down federal employment levels. Construction and closely related mining created 700 positions (1.4%). The building sectors have been affected by large monthly fluctuations to date this year because of the record warm winter and appear to be returning to normal this month. Manufacturing strengthened by 600 jobs (0.4%) over the month, led by growth from durable goods (+400, 0.3%) and nondurable goods (+200, 0.5%) production segments. Financial activities had a small increase of 100 positions (0.1%) for this grouping’s third monthly gain in a row. The finance and insurance (+100, 0.1%) portion provided a small gain as real estate held steady (0, 0.0%). Leisure and hospitality added 100 positions (0.1%) over the month. The accommodation and food services component increased by 300 positions (0.3%) but the arts, entertainment, and recreation component declined by 200 (-0.8%). The leisure and hospitality supersector has also been heavily influenced by the warm winter weather and appears to be returning to more of a typical seasonable pattern. The three declining industries were led lower by professional and business services (-1,600, -0.8%). This industry had job losses in two components, professional, scientific, and technical services (-900, -1.0%) and administrative and waste management services (-700, -0.9%), while management of companies and enterprises was unchanged. Other services was the next largest decliner (-1,200, -2.0%). Trade, transportation, and utilities (-500, -0.2%) also posted a decline. A large wholesale trade employment drop could not be offset by smaller gains in both retail trade (700, 0.4%), and transportation, warehousing, and utilities (200, 0.4%). Information, was unchanged over the month. Source: CTDOL

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