Jobs For Connecticut Now

From the Boston Business Journal: Business leaders from New England expect a “slow recovery … in 2010,” a Federal Reserve Bank of Boston report released Wednesday states.

Among sectors showing “positive signs” is residential real estate, the researchers wrote in the Fed’s eight-times-a-year summary of economic conditions, commonly known as the Beige Book.

Among the report’s highlights, broken down by sector for New England:

• “Wage increases are very modest or zero; large layoffs appear to have ended, but hiring remains very limited.”

• “Retailers … report mixed sales results for the early fall months, with year-over-year percentage changes in same-store sales ranging from negative to positive mid single-digits.”

Retailers whose sales have been soft are worried about the potential of winter heating costs to further depress demand, the researchers wrote.

• “Tourism activity in Boston is weak, although the rate of decline has slowed,” the researchers wrote. “Business travel is especially soft, and one contact worries that decreased corporate travel and spending will become ‘the new norm.’ ”