By STEPHEN SINGER AP Business Writer HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ The last batch of monthly unemployment and labor force numbers before Election Day showed strong jobs growth, instantly sparking debate Monday between Democratic Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and Republican challenger Tom Foley in their race to win over voters Nov. 4. Employers in Connecticut added 11,500 jobs in September, cutting the unemployment rate to its lowest in nearly six years, the state Labor Department said. The unemployment rate fell to 6.4 percent, from 6.6 percent in August, the lowest since November 2008. The Labor Department also revised the job loss in August, to 1,200 from 3,600 initially reported. All of the news was good, particularly in an election year dominated by Connecticut’s slow emergence from the Great Recession. The employment gain is the largest since April 1994, the seventh monthly nonfarm employment gain this year and a “vigorous bounce-back” from the revised decline of 1,200 jobs in August, the Department of Labor said. Andy Condon, the agency’s research director, said some gains were expected, particularly in public education and leisure and hospitality affected by seasonal shifts. Still, he said the numbers are “very encouraging.” But he cautioned that monthly sample-based […]
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