This year’s standard-bearer for hiring in Connecticut is the manufacturing giant based on the Thames River.
The Groton-headquartered submarine builder General Dynamics Electric Boat aims to hire 8,000 people in 2026 for positions at its facilities in Connecticut and Rhode Island. It is more than halfway to reaching that goal, according to company officials.
Electric Boat has long ranked as one of the largest private-sector employers in New England, with about 27,000 employees, including more than 16,000 in Connecticut. But it needs many newcomers to meet surging demand from the U.S. Navy. In July, it landed company-record contracts totaling about $77 billion to build nine Virginia-class, fast-attack submarines and five Columbia-class, ballistic-missile submarines in the coming years…