(WTIC-AM) -- Despite recent turmoil on Wall Street, financial experts at today's Connecticut Business and Industry Association Economic Summit had a positive outlook for the state for 2019.
CBIA economic advisor Peter Gioia predicts Connecticut will add more than 20,000 net jobs in the coming year, and possibly 30,000.
"A lot of growth will happen in manufacturing. I think construction will see an uptick, and financial services," Gioia said. "Most of the jobs that seem to be available, and that we are likely to fill will be well-paying jobs."
Gioia said Connecticut 's new governor and the General Assembly must avoid shooting themselves in the foot.
He said they must enact business-friendly policies to keep young people and employers in the state.
Gioia said the fundamentals of Connecticut's economy are still strong, but other economists say there is an increased risk of a national slowdown at the end of the year or in 2020.
Moody's Analytics economist Emily Mandel said this should be a fairly good year.
"Conditions right now really are very strong, and we don't see any single prominent area of risk," Mandel said. "We do look for a slow down at the end of 2019, with risk of a recession rising early in the next decade."
