The unemployment rate remains low in light of recent job openings

Connecticut officials are working to find the right workers to fill thousands of unfilled jobs after federal job openings turned out to be better than expected.

The latest report showed the nation added 336,000 jobs in September, keeping the federal unemployment rate at 3.8% — much better than at times in the past.

Connecticut still has about 90,000 unfilled jobs in a wide variety of industries.

From a macroeconomic perspective, Gov. Ned Lamont is pleased with the numbers. If more employees are employed, the state will receive additional money from state revenue and sales taxes, Lamont said.

Those fees would then help increase the state’s budget surplus in recent years, which has allowed the state to provide more than $7 billion in additional funds for long-underfunded public employee and public school teacher pension plans.

“I like where Connecticut is,” Lamont said.

While the number fluctuates, Connecticut’s unemployment rate of 3.6% is currently lower than the national unemployment rate, the opposite of normal.

While there are 6,000 unfilled vacancies in state government, hiring managers are actively looking to fill about 2,000 of them over the next two years, officials said. Recently, a large number of jobs have been left vacant to help balance the state budget, starting with then-Gov. Danel P. Small.

One of the biggest employers looking for workers is Electric Boat, which has ramped up production and built three submarines a year in Groton for the U.S. Navy.

The company recently signed a new five-year contract with the Metal Trades Council, which represents more than 3,400 employees, including welders, machinists, pipefitters, electricians and painters. Those workers will receive a total pay increase of 21.4% over five years, as well as retention and onboarding bonuses.

Electric Boat is hiring more than 5,700 workers this year, directly impacting other employers whose workers are moving to safer jobs with EB and forcing the submarine maker to recruit from a larger geographic area.

Nationally, polls show many Americans are frustrated with rising grocery costs and the highest mortgage rates in 23 years. But President Joe Biden touted the jobs numbers.

“The unemployment rate has remained below 4% for 20 consecutive months, the longest period in 50 years,” Biden said at the White House. “We’ve hit a 70-year low in unemployment among women, record low unemployment among African-American and Hispanic workers, and among people with disabilities — people who have been left behind in the pre-recovery and for too long. We have the highest share of working-age Americans in the workforce in 20 years.”

Assignments

One of the biggest players trying to fill the vacancies is Capital Workforce Partners, a government-funded nonprofit agency that serves 37 cities in Greater Hartford and north-central Connecticut.

The organization’s president and chief executive officer, Alex B. Johnson, notes that Capital serves the largest of the state’s five regions, covering about a third of the state’s population. He describes the problem of filling vacancies as “this crisis is a problem of lack of talent”.

Capital is among many groups working on the issue, including the Governor’s Workforce Council, the Office of Workforce Strategies, the state Department of Labor, chambers of commerce and the state Department of Economic and Community Development, among others.

Capital works to solve the problems of education, training and development of skills of workers that enable employment. Additionally, the picture includes childcare issues, as single parents are an important part of the workforce. At the same time, the unemployment rate still remains low.

“This is our opportunity and our challenge,” Johnson told The Courant. “These are the issues we struggle with on a daily basis.”

While the economy remains mixed, with many Americans and Connecticut residents deeply concerned about inflation, Johnson noted that overall the jobs picture is good.

“The economy is booming,” Johnson said. “The (unfilled) number ranges from 80,000 to 100,000 jobs at any given time.”

In addition to traditional job training to address the skills gap, Johnson says Capital also works to provide “soft skills, behavioral skills, punctuality, how to solve problems” because workers need the whole package to be productive employees with successful careers. eat

“We try to meet people where they are,” Johnson said. “We are not a volunteer organization. … We train people in the culinary arts, construction, and the game.”

Training also includes the cutting edge of information technology, along with manufacturing, healthcare, transportation and distribution, among others.

As Capital seeks more state funding to provide more summer jobs and other programs, Johnson says Capital is providing a “significant return on investment” through its work.

With the state paying at least $30,000 a year to keep someone incarcerated, the inmate needs training and a second chance when he gets out of prison.

“We could keep them out of jail and train them for $10,000,” Johnson said.

Former state Rep. John Hampton, a Democrat who served in the Legislature for 10 years, said Lamont was active on the issue.

“If ever there was a governor who understood workforce issues, it’s this governor,” said Hampton, who now works for Capital Workforce Partners. “This is his wheelhouse.”

Capital statistics show a direct correlation between education levels and jobs in Hartford County. Among those with a bachelor’s degree or higher in college, 89% of people are employed. For those with less than a high school education, the number drops sharply to 58% of working age.

At the age of 30 to 64, according to statistics, 81% work. But among people aged 16 to 29, the number of working people drops to 70%.

Young and old, skilled and unskilled, Capital strives to help industries and workers across the board.

“The workplace is constantly evolving,” Johnson said. “We want to respond to all sectors.”

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com