- Connecticut Department of Labor issues report on establishment and employment changes in the first quarter of 2021
- Net job growth rose 13,896 during the quarter, including 16,730 jobs created through business openings
- The quarter included a total of 3,756 establishment births, or companies that became employers over the course of the previous year
Summary by Dirk Langeveld
Connecticut saw increasing employment gains in the first quarter of 2021 as well as more than 3,700 establishment births, according to the latest Business Employment Dynamics report from the Connecticut Department of Labor Office of Research.
From January to March, gross job gains in Connecticut from new or expanding businesses totaled 85,542, down 3,088 from the fourth quarter of 2020. Gross job losses stood at 71,646, a drop of 7,871 from the previous quarter. As a result, the state saw a net employment gain of 13,896 jobs in the first quarter of 2021, up from 9,113 in the fourth quarter of 2020.
The second quarter of 2020, which encompassed the recession associated with the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, had a net loss of 205,121 jobs in Connecticut. The state had recovered 105,466 jobs through the first quarter of 2021.
Seven of 10 industries in Connecticut had a gross jobs increase in the first quarter of 2021, led by professional and business services, transportation and warehousing, and education and health services. Leisure and hospitality, manufacturing, and finance activities experienced a gross jobs decrease.
A total of 68,812 gross job gains during the quarter were associated with business expansions, down 2,219 from the fourth quarter of 2020. Jobs created through business openings stood at 16,730, down 869 from the previous quarter.
The quarter also logged 59,955 job losses due to business contractions, down 3,455 from the fourth quarter of 2020, and 11,691 job losses due to business closures, down 4,416 from the fourth quarter of 2020.
Establishment births, a subset of business openings, totaled 3,756 in the first quarter of 2021 and accounted for 8,541 jobs – down 921 from the previous quarter. The Bureau of Labor Statistics defines establishment births as entities that had no employees in the first quarter of the initial year and positive employment in the first quarter of the subsequent year.
Establishment deaths, or entities that have positive employment in the first quarter of the initial year and zero employment in the first quarter of the subsequent year, thus representing permanent business closures rather than temporary closures, are currently available through the second quarter of 2020. In this quarter, a total of 3,875 establishment deaths were logged with a total loss of 12,555 jobs.
The Connecticut DOL data also shows that Connecticut experienced a net loss of 2,101 establishments in 2019. During the first quarter of 2020, the eve of the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and the last quarter for which data is available, net establishment births were up 4,079 and net establishment deaths were down 1,546.
