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6 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | APRIL 7, 2025 What's Trending In new year, CT sees a spike in job openings; 92K positions unfilled By Greg Bordonaro gbordonaro@hartfordbusiness.com C onnecticut saw a spike in job openings during the month of January, according to new federal data. Connecticut employers reported 92,000 open jobs at the end of January, up from 73,000 job open- ings in December, a monthly increase of 26%, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. A year earlier, in January 2024, Connecticut employers reported 90,000 job openings, BLS data shows. CT LABOR FORCE BY THE NUMBERS JAN. 2025 % CHANGE FROM DEC. 2024 JOB OPENINGS 92,000 26% TOTAL SEPARATIONS 60,000 25% TOTAL QUITS 36,000 33.3% TOTAL LAYOFFS 18,000 12.5% Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Nationally, Connecticut was one of only six states to report an increase in January job openings. The others were Arizona (+53,000), Pennsyl- vania (+45,000), Massachusetts and Tennessee (+26,000 each), and Vermont. Two states (Delaware and Oklahoma) saw a decline in job openings. Nationally, the number of job open- ings changed little, and stood at 7.74 million at the end of January. That number is down from 8.49 million open jobs in January 2024. Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association, said the spike in job openings was surprising, since there usually isn't a big increase from December to January. In fact, he said the 19,000 increase in job openings was the highest Decem- ber-to-January bump in a decade. "One explanation could be that companies were expecting tariffs/ reshoring, so they are trying to get ahead of the potential increase in demand by adding jobs/capacity," DiPentima said. "This is certainly contrary to the qualitative data that we are now hearing that companies are pausing hiring, including the state of CT." DiPentima said the data adds to the economic uncertainty being spurred by federal policies like tariffs. There's also uncertainty over the future of the soon-to-be expiring 2017 federal tax cuts, which "drove significant hiring, wage increases and investments in 2018," he said. Meantime, an estimated 36,000 Connecticut workers quit their jobs in January, BLS data shows, up from 27,000 in December and 32,000 a year ago. TOTAL PROJECT SIZE: 19,000 SF Building For Your Success NUMET ORANGE, CT For this project, PDS recently completed a 19,000 square foot structural steel / masonry addition for Numet in Orange CT. This project includes a new production space, inspection room, quality control & sound room, overhead doors, restrooms, heavy lighting, a new parking lot, a 20' tall retaining wall and specialty items custom built for their processing department. PDS has always emphasized building long lasting relationships in order to serve our client's needs at any given time. With in-house disciplines of engineering from civil to mechanical, PDS can design the right building to fit your budget and timeline. SPOTLIGHT ON: MANUFACTURING 107 Old Windsor Road, Bloomfield, CT 06002 | 860.242.8586 | pdsec.com STATES WITH THE HIGHEST JOB OPENING RATES RANK STATE JOB OPENINGS RATE* 1 ARIZONA 6.7 2 VERMONT 6.3 3 WEST VIRGINIA 6.2 4 KENTUCKY 6.1 5 ALASKA 5.8 6 MASSACHUSETTS 5.7 7 VIRGINIA 5.7 8 MINNESOTA 5.6 9 GEORGIA 5.5 10 NEW MEXICO 5.5 17 CONNECTICUT 5.1 TOTAL U.S. 4.6 * The job openings rate is computed by dividing the number of job openings by the sum of employment and job openings, and multiplying that by 100. Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics The number of January hires in Connecticut was 67,000, up from 53,000 hires in December and 61,000 hires a year ago. Connecticut companies also collectively laid off 18,000 workers in January, up from 16,000 layoffs in December.