The Connecticut job market is not rebounding, the latest figures suggest, as employers around the state had 1,600 fewer jobs in February than they had the month before and the unemployment rate was up slightly.
The report, released by the state Department of Labor, can be volatile from month to month, but the full-year record shows that the state’s economy is essentially stagnant.
From February 2016 to February 2017, the total job base grew by only 2,100 — such a small percentage that it could be indistinguishable from zero. Connecticut has about 1.68 million jobs.
Over the 12 months, restaurants and hotels were among the strongest sectors, with an increase of 2,800 jobs, or a more than 2 percent growth rate — four times as fast as the overall private sector. These categories of jobs were among the biggest losers when comparing February to January. The report said snow that fell during the survey week in February could have affected the data.
Data is seasonally adjusted, but the formula does not account for all variations.
The Information sector, which includes information technology professionals, had the biggest job loss in percentage terms over the year. There are 1,300 fewer jobs in that sector than in February 2016, or a 4 percent drop.
The state’s unemployment rate, at 4.7 percent, is the same as the national unemployment rate. It was 4.5 percent in January.
January’s job tally, initially estimated at a gain of 5,700, was revised to 6,500.
Fairfield County is a drag on the state’s growth, the report said, with 2,100 fewer jobs than a year earlier. Headquarters jobs for companies that do the bulk of their business elsewhere — such as GE, Xerox and Priceline — was another category that did poorly in the last 12 months. There are 1,200 fewer of those jobs in Connecticut, a 3.6 percent decline.
