Connecticut’s economic growth has been below the national average for the last 10 years, according to an analysis by the advocacy group Connecticut Voices for Children.

“Since the Great Recession Connecticut’s economy has shrunk overall and underperformed the U.S. economic growth in nearly every major economic sector due to a combination of slower job growth in every and slower labor productivity growth,” said Patrick O’Brien, the author of the report.

The State of Working Connecticut Report finds that the state lagged in job growth and led in wage disparity from the Great Recession through the COVID19 pandemic — a period that included the longest economic expansion on record.

O’Brien said the shrunken economy has exacerbated the racial divide in wages.

“A typical black worker in Connecticut in 2019, made the equivalent of only 68 cents for each dollar the overall typical worker earned,” O’Brien said.

Connecticut Voices claims the state’s economy would grow if the more progressive budget policies were adopted.

Those policies include increased taxes on the wealthy to help support middle class families — especially families of color.

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