New Haven Ranks as Best Connecticut City for Jobs

The Best Cities for Jobs in America? They’re generally not in Connecticut, according to a new national analysis, but a number of the states' leading metropolitan areas are moving up the list compared with their counterparts across the country. The New Haven, Bridgeport-Stamford-Norwalk, and Norwich-New London metropolitan areas all edged up the list compared with their rankings a year ago. Danbury dropped slightly. Hartford-East Hartford-West Hartford’s ranking was virtually unchanged.

The rankings of the nation’s cities was developed by the website newgeography, and published this week.

Among 92 Medium Sibestcities2014zed Cities that were ranked, New Haven ranked #42 (up from #65 last year) and Bridgeport-Norwalk-Stamfordnew haven ranked at #58 (up from #85 last year) and saw the 10th largest advance among the medium sized cities.

Danbury ranked #122 (down from #111 last year) and Norwich-New London at #231 (up from #233 last year) among 240 Small Sized Cities that were analyzed.

In the rankings of the nation’s Large Sized Cities, the Hartford-West Hartford-East Hartford region ranked #48, nearly identical to last year’s ranking of #47. The top rated cities included San Jose, San Francisco, Austin, Raleigh, Houston, Nashville, New York City, Orlando, Dallas and Denver.

This year's rankings use five measures of growth to rank all 398 metro areas for which full data sets were available from the past 10 years.

  • "Large" areas include those with a current nonfarm employment base of at least 450,000 jobs.
  • "Midsize" areas range from 150,000 to 450,000 jobs.
  • "Small" areas have as many as 150,000 jobs. This year’s rankings reflect the current size of each MSAs employment.

Among all 398 cities, New Haven and Danbury were the highest ranked from Connecticut, at #207 and #208 respectively. New Haven jumped 50 places in the overall ranking compared with last year; Danbury dropped 11 slots from a year ago.

The top-ranked city overall was Bismarck, North Dakota, which ranked first out of the 398 metro areas considered in the annual roundup of The Best Cities For Jobs. A metro area of 120,000 located in the country’s fastest-growing state and near the vast Bakken oil fields, the number of jobs in Bismarck is up 3 percent over the last year and 32.4 percent since 2002. Only one MSA—Modesto, CA—changed size categories moving from “Small” to “Midsized.”

The methodology for the 2014 rankings, according to newgeography, largely corresponds to that used in previous years, which emphasizes the robustness of a region's growth both recently and over time, with a minor addition to mitigate the volatility that the Great Recession has introduced into the time series. The rankings use five measures of growth to rank all 398 metro areas for which full data sets were available from the past 10 years.

The goal of the rankings methodology, according to the publication, is to capture a snapshot of the present and prospective employment outlook in each MSA and allow the reader to have a better sense of employment climate in each.

Included are all of the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) for which the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports monthly employment data. They are derived from three-month rolling averages of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics "state and area" unadjusted employment data reported from November 2002 to January 2014.

Norwich Will Host New York-Penn. League All-Star Game in August

A cold winter’s week is the perfect time to think ahead to baseball season.  And if thinking ahead is attractive, there’s nothing better than seeing future major league stars in action on the diamond.  The Norwich Tigers will make that possibility more accessible this year when they host the 2013 New York-Penn League All-Star Celebration. 4aiVsHZ3The 2013 New York-Penn League All-Star Game will take place on Tues. August 13 at 7:35 p.m. at Dodd Stadium in Norwich.

The All-Star Celebration logo honors the community's rich maritime history and it's affiliation with the American League Champion Detroit Tigers. Maritime flags, an anchor and a dock rope make up the nautical logo, combined with classic Tigers old English lettering.

"We're thrilled to be hosting this game," said Vice President/General Manager C.J. Knudsen. "It's a great tribute to our fan base and exciting for all baseball fans throughout the state of Connecticut."

Tickets - now on sale - for the All-Star Celebration Game are the same as the 2013 single game ticket prices: $10.00 for premium seat tickets, $9.00 for reserved seat tickets and $8.00 for grandstand seat tickets.  They can be purchased  online at www.cttigers.com and at the ticket office at Dodd Stadium.

The 2013 Connecticut Tigers schedule is now available online at cttigers.com and features six Friday fireworks games in addition to five Saturday promotional giveaways. The 2013 season begins on Monday, June 17 against the Lowell Spinners, the NYPL affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, at 7:05 p.m. at Dodd Stadium with fireworks after the game.

In 2012, the Connecticut Tigers ranked #182 in average attendance among all minor league and independent teams, with 1,660 fans per game.  The independent Bridgeport Bluefish were #162, with an average of 2,033 fans attending games, and the Triple-A New Britain Rock Cats were #47 with average home attendance of 5,061.  The top minor league team in the nation was in Lehigh, PA where the Lehigh Valley IronPigs drew 9,153 per game.

The All-Star logo was brought to life at Brandiose in San Diego, where the company generated top selling logos for teams ranging from the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs to America's oldest baseball club, the Cincinnati Reds. T-shirts featuring the All-Star Celebration logo will also be available through the Tigers' official website.

The Connecticut Tigers are the NYPL affiliate of the Detroit Tigers and play a 76 game (38 home, 38 away) schedule from late June through early September.  The Dodd Stadium Box Office is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Fans that want to purchase tickets may call the Tigers at (860) 887-7962, visit the box office or log on to www.cttigers.com.   Play ball!  (Well, not quite yet.)

Consulates in Connecticut Promote International Connections

Connecticut is home to numerous international corporations and many more domestic companies that routinely conduct global business, but the number of official consulates in the state can be counted with just a few fingers. The Consulate General of Brazil is located at Constitution Plaza in Hartford, quite visibly on the corner Consulateof Market and State Streets just a block from the University of Connecticut School of Business downtown.   The Consulate General of Peru is also located in Connecticut’s Capitol City, on Main Street.

New Haven hosts the Consulate General of Ecuador, on the corner of Church Street and George Street in the heart of the city.  Just last year, Ecuadorian ambassador Nathalie Cely Suarez visited New Haven City Hall to meet with Mayor John DeStefano Jr. and New Haven’s Ecuadorian consul, Raul Erazo Velarde. New Haven is home to one of 19 Ecuadorian consulates in the United States, and the most recent U.S. census found that 21,000 Ecuadorians live in the state.

The state also has numerous honorary consulates – often no more than an individual and a mailing address – representing nations including Finland (in Norwich), France (in Middlebury), Romania (in Fairfield) and Italy (in Hartford).

The political title "Consul" is used for the official representatives of the government of one nation in the territory of another, normally acting to assist citizens of the consul's country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries.  There may be several consuls,  in several main cities, providing assistance with bureaucratic issues to both the citizens of the consul's country travelling or living abroad and to the citizens of the country the consul resides in who wish to travel to or trade with the consul's country.  A consul is distinguished from ambassador, who is the official representative from one head of state to another.