Labor report offers mixed bag

HARTFORD, Conn. – The Labor Department reported good and bad news Friday when it concluded that Connecticut grew more jobs than originally estimated last year, but shed 10,400 in January as winter weather slowed the economy.

The department revised its 2013 job growth numbers and found that the state had 12,300 more positions in December than it originally estimated. Meanwhile, the state lost jobs in the first month of the year in a drop the Labor Department believes may have been caused by harsh weather conditions.

The state unemployment rate also continued to decline. According to the department, it was 7.2 percent in January, down from a revised 7.4 percent in December.

“Newly benchmarked employment statistics reaffirm the consistent job growth in the state that brought down the unemployment rate in 2013,” Andy Condon, director of the Labor Department’s Office of Research, said in a press release. “However, the steep decline in January payroll jobs remains a concern. If, as we suspect, January’s decline was largely due to weather conditions we should see growth trends return in future months.”

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