Central Naugatuck Valley Economic Profile: 2013

This document presents data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES), a product of the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program. The LODES dataset combines wage records, employer reports, administrative and demographic information, and records from the U.S. Census Bureau. The most recent dataset was available for the year 2011. The LODES dataset offers an unprecedented level of geographic and demographic detail compared to other economic datasets. Employment locations are aggregated to the Census Block geography to protect privacy and are for general planning purposes only. LODES data was supplemented with data from the Connecticut Department of Labor and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Statistics from the different data sources do not match up perfectly due to differing data collection methods. For example, the Connecticut Department of Labor data classifies all government employees into one category while the LODES dataset separates them by function (public school teachers would be considered “educational services” employees). These discrepancies were marked in the report with an asterisk.

Findings include:

• The Central Naugatuck Valley Region (CNVR) had a total employment of 98,453 in 2011, a loss of 5,100 jobs (-4.9%) from 2002.
• Comparatively, there were 130,968 employed persons living in the region, a net export of over 32,500 workers.
• Half of all CNVR residents now work outside the region and over 40 percent of all CNVR workers live outside the region.
• Recovery from the 2007-2009 economic recession has been slow, particularly for goods-producing sectors.
• Regional employment peaked at 104,492 in 2007 and declined to a low of 96,423 in 2010. Employment has grown slowly since 2010 but only education and health services has exceeded pre -recession employment levels.
• Service-producing sectors now make up nearly 80 percent of the region’s total employment. The service sector contains a mix of low paying jobs (accommodation and food services, retail trade) and high paying jobs (finance and insurance, management of companies and enterprises).
• The region has high concentrations of manufacturing, retail trade, wholesale trade, and health care and social assistance employment compared to other parts of the state.
• The region has very low concentrations of employment in the finance and insurance, arts, entertainment and recreation, management of companies and enterprises, and information sectors compared to other parts of the state.
• The wholesale trade sector was identified as the strongest major sector of the CNVR economy. It saw employment growth from 2002-2011, has a high job concentration relative to the state and nation, and has seen positive regional trends. Much of the wholesale trade employment in the region is found in Cheshire Industrial Park near the I-84 and I-691 interchange.
• After decades of decline, manufacturing employment is projected to stay relatively stable from 2010 to 2020. Manufacturing subsectors such as plastics and rubber product manufacturing and chemical manufacturing are projected to add jobs statewide.