Retraining for Workers in Connecticut

A considerably large number of workers in the Connecticut area were able to secure employment within the span of three years; having received the necessary retraining that was needed to help them secure such employment. Federal stimulus funding is what helped to pay for the retraining of about 350 workers within the span of three years. The funding was worth about $1.18 million and came from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, helping to produce millions for the economy and its activity.

A chief economist for DataCore Partners, Don Klepper-Smith, who took part in the contribution process of the report, stated that Connecticut has had to deal with a tougher labor situation than the vast majority of states in the entire nation and because of that, it was important to provide workers with the necessary retraining. During the downfall of the economy and the recession, hundreds of layoffs occurred, putting thousands of people out of work. While a large portion of the country was able to emerge from the Great Recession back in 2010, which was not the case for the southeastern part of Connecticut. In fact, several areas in Connecticut only emerged a few months ago. Most of the state is well into its economic recovery while the southeastern area is still struggling, having only emerged from the downfall less than a year ago.

The report, which came from the Department of Labor, showed that the southeastern part of Connecticut lost a little over 12,000 jobs during the recession, which lasted for 43 long months. Several areas in Connecticut, including the Norwich and New London Area, are well-below the employment peak from four years ago. In fact, the area currently has 11,800 fewer jobs than it did during the time when employment was at its peak. And, the unemployment rate in that area is at 8.2 percent, which is more than the unemployment rate for the entire state of Connecticut.

Many workers had to deal with layoffs and because of that, they were unsure of what the future would hold, especially in terms of finding employment. Because of that, training was offered, helping them to learn the skills and receive the training they need to find employment elsewhere. A large portion of the workers completed their training and of those who completed the training, 80 percent had been able to find new employment, which was essential, especially because so many people were put out of work in the area. A follow up of the retrained workers showed that a total of 89 percent of those individuals were still employed, which was yet another good sign. The results of the re-training speak for themselves with the percentage of people who were able to find and keep jobs.