Connecticut’s spending on state employee pay has grown in recent years – reaching a record high of about $4.9 billion each of the past two years, according to an analysis of data from the state Comptroller’s office.
In the five years between 2017 and 2021, the state’s total payroll climbed nearly 7 percent, with an acute jump in spending the last two years when COVID-19 placed increased demand and strain on a range of public services to confront the virus and its economic fallout.