Report: Investments May Help Turn CT Economy Around

by Christine Stuart | Feb 17, 2012 11:05am
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Posted to: Business, Education, Jobs, Labor

Connecticut’s post-recession economic recovery generally lags behind that of the national economy, but a new report from the Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis concluded that with the large capital investments the state is making there‘s a chance it will continue to outperform the national economy.

“Overall, the combination of the baseline forecast, the benefit of continuing low interest rates, and a bevy of major capital projects has the potential to give Connecticut growth rates above the national pattern through the end of 2013,“ the report concluded.

Currently Connecticut’s real gross domestic product which is coming in at 2.65 percent is outpacing the projected national rate of 1.85 percent, but it remains to be seen if the state can continue to keep pace.

The report concludes that projects like the $864 million investment in the University of Connecticut Health Center, and a $291 million investment in a genetic research facility on the same campus will contribute to the recovery effort. Both projects were approved last year by the General Assembly.

In addition the $567 million investment in a busway between New Britain and Hartford, will “strengthen the state’s economic performance significantly, by nearly 1 percent in 2012 and 1.15 percent in 2013.“

Together, these initiatives will add another 7,000 direct, indirect, and induced jobs to the already expected job creation of 11,000 over the eight quarters from September 2011 to September 2013.

But “even with all of this, employment impacts still fall far short of fully recovering jobs lost in the Great Recession,” the report concludes.

The center reported that only 9,000 net new jobs were created last year, and says a lot of what happens in 2012 will depend on what happens in Washington D.C. and Europe.

“Realistically, given the political divisions in Washington, the threat of a failure to extend unemployment benefits and Medicare reimbursements, and the continuing sovereign debt crisis in Europe will all work against achieving these levels of growth,” it says.

But the report is more optimistic than pessimistic.

“Even with the short-term pain from the unavoidable efforts to rebalance the state budget, CCEA projects the Connecticut economy’s real output and employment will continue to grow modestly,” it concluded.

Click here to read the report.

Tags: economy, recession, Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis

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