Job growth in the state next year could be meager, according to a University of Connecticut economist.
Steven Lanza said in the university's quarterly forecast on Monday that slow U.S. economic growth will lead to paltry job gains of 1,700 by the end of 2012.
But if national economic growth is stronger than what economists project, 3,000 jobs could be created in each of the last two quarters of 2012.
And Lanza said the worst-case scenario is that Connecticut could lose 1,400 jobs or more if the United States slides into another recession.
Connecticut's unemployment rate dipped to 8.7 percent in October, the second straight month it declined.
Gov. Dannel Malloy signed legislation in October intended to help boost jobs by providing loans and grants to small businesses and speeding up the state's regulatory process.
