Job growth faces hard times

A new forecast in the latest issue of The Connecticut Economy, published by the Department of Economics, predicts that Connecticut will add only 4,700 jobs in 2007 and fewer than that in 2008, or less than half of the jobs added in 2005 and 2006.

The prediction is based on "a significant deceleration in U.S. economic activity."

If the nation's economy only grows by about 2.5 percent over the next two years, as expected, Connecticut's job growth will stall, writes Daniel W. Kennedy, a senior economist with the Connecticut Department of Labor.

Rising interest rates and higher energy prices are slowing national growth, and a slower housing market is affecting other economic sectors, Kennedy notes.

"The drag forces bearing down on the economy are multiplying," according to the UConn economists whose articles describe the slowdown in this issue.

In its pre-election issue, The Connecticut Economy includes commentaries by Governor M. Jodi Rell and gubernatorial candidate John DeStefano, Jr. on their economic to-do lists.

DeStefano put universal health care at the top of his list as a way to create an environment in which businesses can succeed.

"It's time to lower health care costs for businesses and create a healthier workforce," he writes.

Gov. Rell says her top priority will be continuing and accelerating the state's economic recovery by protecting current jobs and adding new ones.

"Economic development must start 'before the beginning' - not only with education, but with early childhood education," she writes.

The new issue of quarterly magazine also includes a citizen's economic guide to the fall 2006 election, detailed data about the state's independent voters, and an analysis of what drives voter behavior, using the tools of economics and statistics.

For more information and to subscribe:

The Connecticut Economy
c/o Marilyn Moir, Business Manager
CLAS Business Services Center
University of Connecticut
215 Glenbrook Road U-4158
Storrs, CT 06269-4158