High expectations for Bass Pro
BRIDGEPORT — The banners promoting Bass Pro Shops’ jobs fair hung outside the Klein Memorial Auditorium between advertisements for performances by John Hiatt, Wynton Marsalis and a tango show.
The placement was appropriate.
The Missouri-based outdoor retailer’s Bridgeport location, under construction between I-95 and the harbor, is billed as not just a store but a 150,000 square-foot attraction, complete with a restaurant and bowling ally.
A “trip generator” is how Mayor Bill Finch described it during an interview Tuesday on WNPR’s “The Colin McEnroe Show.”
So, Monday through Wednesday, job applicants ages 18 to 72 from within and outside of Bridgeport, milled about the Klein’s lobby and auditorium, as if auditioning for a big production.
“It’s a brand new place for Bridgeport, it’s on a bus route, and it looks exciting,” Stratford resident Sondra Miller, 72, said after her job interview.
The company is hiring nearly 400 people for the Bridgeport site, which was first announced with great fanfare in the summer of 2012 and is expected to open later this year. Nearly half of those openings are full-time salaried or hourly positions, according to Bass Pro.
A company spokesman said more than 950 applicants showed up Monday, day one of the three-day event. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
Work resumes on three Stamford schools
STAMFORD — Stop-work orders were lifted at three district schools Wednesday, and all schools remain on schedule for their Aug. 31 opening, city and district officials said.
City permit records accessed Wednesday afternoon confirmed that all necessary permits had been issued for work to resume at Scofield Magnet Middle School, Springdale Elementary and Stamford High School.
“All work is permitted to continue,” said Michael Handler, the city’s director of administration, who said the city was collaborating with the district to open schools on time.
Handler said the city’s building department authorized schools facilities manager Al Barbarotta to remove the red stop-work notices from the schools’ front doors.
The stop-work orders were issued after three surprise inspections Tuesday morning found projects under Barbarotta’s oversight at the three schools lacked building and electrical permits.
Building department officials expedited the missing permits, which were all in place by Wednesday afternoon.
In the city’s first extensive comments on the week’s events, Handler said such work site investigations could be triggered for several reasons. All permitted work sites are automatically slated for inspection, he said. In addition, certain officials, such as tax assessors, can call for a building inspection. Inspections can also arise as a result of a complaint. Handler said he didn’t know what exactly prompted Tuesday morning’s inspections. CLICK TITLE TO CONTINUE
CT hiring lowers in July jobless rate to 5.4%
Connecticut employers hired 4,100 workers in July, cutting the state's jobless rate to 5.4 percent, state labor authorities say.
Last month was the third in a row for job gains, the state Labor Department said Thursday, citing preliminary U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. The U.S. jobless rate fell to 5.3 percent in July.
Connecticut has now recovered 102,000 jobs, or 86 percent, of the total lost during the Great Recession, the agency said. The state's June jobless rate was 5.7 percent, and was 6.4 percent in July 2014.
Hiring in professional and business services, education and health services, financial activities and government contributed to July's job gains.
Conversely, construction and mining, information, leisure and hospitality, and trade, transportation & utilities shed jobs, the state labor department said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy released a statement on the jobs report, saying it shows progress.
"Jobs are dramatically up, the unemployment rate is significantly down, and we're on track to reach private sector job levels that the state hasn't seen since before the Great Recession," Malloy said. But we cannot – and will not – stop here. We are going to continue fighting for more good paying jobs with good benefits as we engage with companies like never before."