Of the four sites that comprise the CT job board network, FairfieldCountyJobs.com (the flagship site) has always been the leader when it comes to finding CT jobs. This is because Fairfield County is the leader in state for job creation. Over 1 in 4 jobs in Connecticut are created here.

The Fairfield County region is dominated by many large companies such as UBS (they employ over 2,000 in Stamford), GE which has many offices around the region, and other cool companies like Priceline.com.

The New Haven-Waterbury region would be the second largest. This area is much more blue collar with lots of little manufacturing firms alongside large institutions such as Yale University which is New Haven's largest employer. Other interesting companies include the headquarters of sandwich giant SUBWAY who is also hiring.

HartfordCountyJobs.com and NewLondonCountyJobs.com round out the list. You'll find many insurance jobs in Hartford and New London offers the casinos and other tourist attractions for employment opportunities.

Labels: Connecticut Jobs

The U.S. Department of Labor announced nearly $5.5 million in awards to 18 faith-based and community organizations (FBCOs) as part of the President's Prisoner Re-entry Initiative (PRI). Each chosen group was awarded more than $300,000. Connecticut jobs will be helped with an award presented to Career Resources Inc., in Fairfield County.

"These $5.5 million in grants will advance local faith-based and community organization efforts to equip ex-prisoners with basic job skills, counseling and opportunities to earn an honest living in our communities," said Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao.

In spring 2008, the U.S. Department of Justice awarded grants to selected state correctional agencies to provide pre-release services to exiting prisoners. The Department of Labor, in turn, announced a competition in early September to follow through with post-release services for those same newly released civilians. Each of today's award-winning organizations will serve at least 100 recently released individuals during the program's first year.

"These faith-based and community organizations will partner with ex-offenders and equip them with the skills necessary to compete as members of the modern-day workforce," said Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training Brent R. Orrell. "Steady employment, mentoring and moral support help break the cycle of despair and disordered, often criminal, lives."

Introduced by former President Bush in his 2004 "State of the Union" address, the Prisoner Re-entry Initiative helps strengthen urban communities and assist ex-prisoners re-entering the community through an employment-based program that incorporates mentoring, job training and other services.

Labels: Connecticut Jobs

The number of jobs in Connecticut fell once again between August and September. The state lost approximately 2,300 positions in a months time, according to most recent statistics released.

John Tirinzonie, who is the state’s labor economist, said that this is proof that the nation’s struggling economy has begun to effect jobs in Connecticut. He went on to say that almost every industry in the state is beginning to feel this impact.

He predicts that, if the American economic situation does not improve soon, then the positions lost statewide during the last month will only be a preview of the worsening job market that come before the year is out.

National economist have expect that the country will not recover until some time next year. No forecast has been made at this time as to exactly how many jobs in Connecticut could be lost if this is true.

Currently 1.7 million individuals hold jobs in Connecticut. The unemployment fell during the month of September to 6.1 percent from 6.5 percent. The loss of jobs and the drop in unemployment may seem to contradict each other, but as work becomes harder to come by, some begin to seek employment in areas right outside of their state of residence. This can throw statistics off somewhat.

The struggling housing market has also served to make the situation worse. With less people buying homes, construction jobs in Connecticut are now harder to come by. During the month of September the state lost 300 more of these positions, which brought industry employment down to 67,700, according to the state Labor Department.

The manufacturing industry is also struggling. Last month 700 jobs were lost, bringing employment down to 188,500. The state Labor Department has said that September had the largest month-to-month decline in jobs experienced in Connecticut so far this year.

Labels: Connecticut Jobs

Connecticut unemployment rose 0.7 percent in August to 6.5 percent, which is the highest the state has had since June of 1993. Despite this, employers created around 200 new Connecticut jobs during the course of the month, according to the most recent statistics gathered by the state’s labor department.

Altogether, Connecticut employers have only increased the number of jobs in the state by 900 new positions since the beginning of January. Since last August, 4,200 jobs have come to the state. With the nation as a whole constantly decreasing the number employment opportunities, due to an unstable economy, one would think Connecticut was fairing better than many areas.

This is a difficult thing to determine, since the percentage of Connecticut residents that are filing for unemployment benefits is currently 0.4 percent higher than the national average. Last month was also the second time this year that the state saw as drastic of an increase in joblessness as 0.7 percent in one month, May being the first. Still, state officials believes data other than the unemployment rate shows that Connecticut’s job market is stable.

“Connecticut…bucked the national trend by showing some positive employment gains for August,” said state labor economist John Tirinzonie. “While the nation has seen eight consecutive months of negative growth, we have been fortunate to have had three months of employment gains during this same period.”

Despite this, Tirinzonie believes that Connecticut is “walking an economic tightrope.” According to him, if the national economy doesn’t improve soon, then the state will find itself “falling into the same pattern of job losses.”

For the time being, the Connecticut job market seems able to sustain itself. The state’s monthly employment survey found that five of Connecticut’s 10 major industries added jobs during the month of August, two experienced no change and only three lost jobs. Leisure and hospitality, which added 600 jobs, had the most growth. Both the government sector and financial activities each lost 500 jobs last month.

According to Tirinzonie, the reason that the state can add jobs but see an experience in unemployment is that one survey looks only at new jobs in Connecticut, while unemployment statistics take in to account those who did hold jobs outside of the state but are now without work.

Labels: Connecticut Jobs

The number of new Connecticut accounting jobs created during the next quarter may be a small disappointment to jobseekers. A recent survey conducted on a national level by recruitment firm Robert Half International found that corporate level hiring for accounting and finance professionals will remain unchanged in the next between now and the end of September.

Of the 1,400 CFOs that participated in the survey, 84 percent stated that they planned to neither increase nor decrease the number of individuals they employed in this field. The remaining 12 percent of CFOs were evenly split down the middle when it came to their hiring plans. Exactly 6 percent planned to make additions to staff and 6 percent planned on doing away with jobs postings.

Despite the 0 net gain in jobs, those accounting positions in Connecticut available are becoming increasingly difficult to fill. According to 32 percent of the CFOs surveyed, these positions are the most challenging to find the right employee for. Accounting slots were followed by audit and finance jobs, which 18 percent of participants believed to be the most difficult to hire for.

With employers complaining about the challenges in finding properly trained staff members, those job seekers with experience in the field shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a new workplace.

The largest amount of employers planning to hire new employees for accounting and finance positions were in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. In these states the most important skills were budget forecasting and strategic planning. Other areas that are expected to see an increase in staff numbers included Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas.

The hiring in these West South Central states is mainly fueled by the energy sector. In these two groups combined CFOs stated that the planned to hire an net 4 percent of accounting and finance professionals before the end of the third quarter.

Labels: Connecticut Jobs