Jobs For Connecticut Now

Interesting read from today’s Hartford Advocate: Have we hit bottom? That’s the question many are asking, especially among the nearly 80,000 people who have lost their jobs in Connecticut in the past year. Another 20,000 are expected to join the ranks of the unemployed before things turn around in June. And bankruptcy filings are on the rise.

“We’re probably close to the bottom now as far as job losses are concerned,” says Joe Brennan, senior vice president of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. “There’s no accurate way to measure that when you’re in the middle of it, but anecdotally talking to members [of the CBIA] they feel they’re at the bottom.”

… What is being done to bring more jobs into the state? Not much, according to Brennan.

“Candidly, during the legislative session the response was tepid at best,” he said. “We talked, and others talked, going into the session about the fact that economic recovery needed to be the priority, but the budget obviously dominated the legislative session. Very little attention was given to economic growth.”