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Connecticut governors and legislatures have been using job freezes to help close state budget deficits for more than a decade.

Budget deal has $30 million for special pay for the thousands of health care and social service workers, grocery and department store employees, emergency personnel, utilities workers and others who operated essential services when COVID-19 struck Connecticut hard in 2020.

Connecticut governors and legislatures have been using job freezes to help close state budget deficits for more than a decade. And even after state tax receipts began pouring in, Gov. Ned Lamont has frozen vacancies faster than did his predecessor — much to the consternation of lawmakers. Now, with one-sixth of most Executive Branch jobs empty, retirements accelerating and the coronavirus pandemic still not over, unions and some legislators say a more concerted effort to hire must begin immediately.

Now, with one-sixth of most Executive Branch jobs empty, retirements accelerating and the coronavirus pandemic still not over, unions and some legislators say a more concerted effort to hire must begin immediately.

The budget that begins July 1 will include $30 million to help businesses replenish a $495 million hole in Connecticut’s unemployment trust, according to sources.