Jobs For Connecticut Now

Employers went on a hiring spree in January and drove down the unemployment rate for a fifth straight month to 8.3 percent, its lowest point in nearly three years. The result pointed to a resurgent job market, and it sent stock futures surging. The Dow Jones industrial average futures, which were flat before the report, jumped more than 100 points. In the past 30 years, the recession has caused massive job losses, population growth has altered the size and makeup of our cities, and the income gap between rich and poor has widened. Here, we take a look at how people’s perceptions of change in their area match up with the way things really are. The economy created 243,000 net jobs in January, the most in nine months, and the unemployment rate fell two ticks. Read More

Strengthening small businesses and building interest in local manufacturing were the key topics at a session held by State Senator Len Fasano (R-34) and State Representative Dave Yaccarino (R-North Haven) Wednesday night at the public library. Read More

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy secured Connecticut’s investment in a major genetic research initiative Monday — but not before one more partisan debate. The State Bond Commission voted 8-2 to release $291 million, which will pay to build a new 173,000-square-foot research center for The Jackson Laboratory on the University of Connecticut Health Center campus in Farmington. The funds also will provide equipment and furniture for the facility, and will subsidize roughly one-third of operating costs for the next decade. Read More

Hartford – Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Monday described Pfizer Inc.’s decision to move about 400 jobs last year from Groton to Cambridge, Mass., as a prime reason why Connecticut is making a $290 million investment for a new genetics research lab.

The governor called the Pfizer relocations “a very clear warning shot that was fired across our bow” that if the state doesn’t make investments in bioscience and other fast-growing high-tech sectors, more good jobs could leave the state. Read More

In January 1912, the United States emerged from a two-year recession. Nineteen more followed—along with a century of phenomenal economic growth. Americans in real terms are 700% wealthier today. In hindsight it seems obvious that emerging technologies circa 1912—electrification, telephony, the dawn of the automobile age, the invention of stainless steel and the radio amplifier—would foster such growth. Yet even knowledgeable contemporary observers failed to grasp their transformational power. Read More

The Massachusettschapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses today said Gov. Deval Patrick’s plan to increase the role of community colleges in workforce development is “laudable,” but described it as “putting the cart before the horse.”

Bill Vernon, state director for NFIB, said in a statement that government should first focus on lowering the cost of job creation and retention and reforming the state’s “punitive” tax and regulatory systems. Read More

A project backers say could bring over 800 jobs to the economically depressed South Coast has sparked a battle between developers, regional lawmakers and the state Historical Commission over the ability of a medical software company to expand on archeologically sensitive land. Read More

Union Square Ventures recently posted an opening for an investment analyst. Instead of asking for résumés, the New York venture-capital firm—which has invested in Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga and other technology companies—asked applicants to send links representing their “Web presence,” such as a Twitter account or Tumblr blog. Applicants also had to submit short videos demonstrating their interest in the position. Read More

With two weeks before the start of this year’s legislative session, Connecticut’s Senate Democrats proposed a jobs plan they say will help the state continue its economic recovery.

Several senators held a press conference Tuesday afternoon at AdChem Manufacturing Technologies headquarters in Manchester to unveil a proposal they said is one of their highest priorities heading into the 2012 legislative session. According to the senators, the plan, which focuses on aiding jobs growth in small businesses, will protect and increase the number of in-state jobs and boost the state’s still flailing economy, which took a hit last week when ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Connecticut over its budget woes.

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Connecticut added 9,000 jobs in 2011, including 600 in December, the state Department of Labor said Monday. December’s job gain followed a loss of 1,400 jobs in November, a total that was revised from the originally estimated 100-job gain announced last month. Connecticut’s seasonally adjusted total nonfarm job count reached 1,627,800, or 9,000 more than at the same point in December 2010. Read More