[Comp625]

In my opinion, there has been much negativity on this forum about high taxes, high cost of living, companies like MetLife moving away from CT, etc. So I want to see if there are any positive trends that are economically meaningful?

Everyone knows about the perks of living in Connecticut (e.g. proximity to NYC, quaint towns/communities, beautiful New England scenery, etc.) that we don't need to necessarily re-hash them here.


Below are some of my own subjective observations, so do feel free to agree or disagree.

• Higher-Ed sector remains very strong in CT. Yale continues to be the largest employer in the Greater New Haven area. Smaller, private institutions are becoming better and better (Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, Quinnipiac University, to name a few). Even community colleges like Housatonic and Gateway have boomed. IMO, the only major threat is dealing with the extremely high cost of tuition, along with constant budget/salary concerns which impact faculty & staff.
• I know the Healthcare Industry is financially struggling (and has been for decades), but I can't help but notice that many of the area hospitals seem to be recruiting talent from all around the country. Even here on C-D, there have been quite a handful of folks asking for advice about CT since they are taking jobs at Stamford Hospital, Hartford Hospital, or Yale New Haven Hospital.
• Is it just me or has the Recruiting Industry gotten a bump, especially coinciding with the economic recession? I feel as if there are a ton of recruiters in CT: bigger names like K-Force, Michael Page, AccountTemps, to mid-sized ones like McIntyre Group and small boutique ones (e.g. recruiters that only search for Executives).
• Not a trend, per se, but many mega-large and modestly large companies are still sticking around in Connecticut: General Electric (Fairfield), Pfizer (Groton), United Technologies/Sikorsky, Aetna (Hartford), Hubbell (Shelton), World Wrestling Entertainment (Stamford), Gartner (Stamford), and Xerox (Stamford).

Upon reflection, it was actually quite difficult trying to think of positive economic trends in Connecticut. Yikes...!

[Stylo]

Don't forgot other big companies headquartered here like Pratt & Whitney (East Hartford), Subway (Milford), BIC (Shelton, Milford), Schick (Milford), Starwood (Stamford), Duracell (Bethel), Diageo (Norwalk), Priceline (Norwalk), ESPN (Bristol), Cartus (Danbury), Boehringer (Ridgefield, US Headquarters). The list goes on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...icut_companies

As far as economic positives, our unemployment rate is lower than NJ's and the same as NY's right now. Which isn't to say it's great.

On recruiters, the ones I know aren't terribly busy. It seems like companies are using them less and less, at least in my industry. We do have a ton of recruiting agencies in this area. I don't know if that's unique to the region or not though.

New Haven has had potential to be a biotech mecca for a while. There's companies moving in and sprouting up here and there, but not at the rate it could be. Maybe with some new leadership in the city, things will change.

[klunk]

the town or state starts a project. tax and prices go up to pay for it.. then it will cost more to keep the project going. now the state got there eye on soc sec and retirement. next we will loose out bennifets. or have it cut down. have they did any thinking of how it will effect the people that pay there pay checks. now that is the number one project. they never get laid off. because we are a endless source of r money. then jobs are harder to get because pay went up. projects are a thing that we have to keep paying for after they get the money from us to start it. then that will go up to. the state should remember the people befor they start one and be glad that the status befor it starts is stable.
what goes up must come down beter off on level ground you dont gain but you don't loose
c onnecticut improve with what you got now starting another will end up the same way it should be that if the people loose the state looses and not the other way around

[kidyankee764]

I think the New Britain-Hartford Busway will provide substantial economic growth.

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I think the New Britain-Hartford Busway will provide substantial economic growth.

This. Finally someone besides me has seen the logic in this.

[islandtimect]

A positive item - The real estate market is turning into a seller's market in some locations. We looked at houses in Farmington and Glastonbury last summer, and 4 of the 7 had gone under deposit before we could even see them. Most were only on the market 1 or 2 days. The house we ended up buying was on the market 1 day when we made an offer.

[Stylo]

What ever happened to the whole "Hollywood East" project? A few state politicians were really behind that. That could've been a huge economic boost.

It makes perfect sense. Proximity to NYC, relatively cheap land/property (compared to LA), tax breaks.

Did Malloy kill the tax breaks?

[Tetto]

Originally Posted by Stylo

What ever happened to the whole "Hollywood East" project? A few state politicians were really behind that. That could've been a huge economic boost.

It makes perfect sense. Proximity to NYC, relatively cheap land/property (compared to LA), tax breaks.

Did Malloy kill the tax breaks?

Are you referring to the thing out in Preston? If so, I think the principles behind that were being less than honest with everyone about how they were going to raise $$$, if memory serves.

[Stylo]

Not sure what you mean. There was the CT Studios project in South Windsor that was supposed to be big, but fizzled out.

But that's just one project, there was a movement to encourage more than that and it seems to have died out.

[Stratford, Ct. Resident]

Originally Posted by Stylo

Not sure what you mean. There was the CT Studios project in South Windsor that was supposed to be big, but fizzled out.

But that's just one project, there was a movement to encourage more than that and it seems to have died out.

They all seem to. There was a proposal for the Army Engine Plant(Avco/Textron) in Stratford that also turned out to be a smoke and mirrors deal like in Preston.