Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — The number of Utahns with gainful employment rose a bit last month.
Utah Employment % Change: 2.8% Employment # Change: 33,300 Unemployment Rate: 7.4%
United States Employment Change: 1.1% Unemployment Rate: 9.1%
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsThe state Department of Workforce Services reported that Utah's unemployment rate fell a to 7.4 percent in September from 7.6 percent the previous month. The 0.2 percent drop meant that about 2,600 Utahns found work during the period.
Compared to September 2010, the state added 33,300 more jobs during the 12-month period, raising total wage and salary employment to 1.2 million. Approximately 99,400 Utahns are considered unemployed. The United States unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.1 percent.
There are encouraging signs coming from the Utah economy, according to DWS's top analyst.
"Even with many restraining economic factors still prevalent in the national economy, Utah is currently able to produce an employment growth rate approaching its long-term average of 3.1 percent," said senior economist Mark Knold. "This stands in contrast to the current U.S. employment growth rate of 1.1 percent."
All sectors but construction and government experienced job growth in the past 12 months.
