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SALT LAKE CITY — For the first time in over a year, Utah's year-over-year job growth exceeded the 2% it has consistently hovered around since last June, clocking in at 2.8% across the past 12 months.
The state's economy has added a cumulative 48,500 jobs since July 2023, bringing the current job count to 1,754,600, according to the Utah Department of Workforce Services' July employment summary.
Additionally, the 2.8% year-over-year job growth significantly outpaces the national rate of 1.6%. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July is estimated at 3.2% with approximately 57,000 Utahns unemployed. This is still below the national unemployment rate of 4.3%, which increased by two-tenths of a percentage point in July.
"July's employment numbers show a return to higher rates of year-over-year job growth in the state," said Ben Crabb, chief economist with the Utah Department of Workforce Services. "After nearly a year of growth in the 2% range, the 2.8% in July is a marked increase in the rate of job expansion, helped along by improved private sector hiring. The healthy jobs numbers are tempered by an increase in the unemployment rate, but this month's 3.2% unemployment rate is still low by historical standards."
Crabb added that job change is measured through 10 major private sector industry groups, seven of which showed year-over year job gains.
Education and health services paced the group, adding 13,200 positions over the year for a 5.8% rate of growth. Following closely behind was construction, which grew by 6.4%, adding 8,800 jobs.
In total, Utah's July private sector employment recorded a year-over-year expansion of 2.6%, or a 37,700-job increase.
"July's numbers show a resilient private sector that expanded payrolls by 2.6% over the last 12 months, breaking out of a nearly yearlong stretch of growth rates at or below 2%," Crabb said. "The month-over-month job gain in the state's private sector this year from June to July was nearly 5,000 positions. Last year, the June to July change was a 2,800-position contraction. These preliminary numbers are an encouraging reflection of employers' confidence in the state's economic conditions."
Other positive signals from the private sector, Crabb said, can be found in newly expanding financial services and leisure and hospitality sectors, both of which had been shedding jobs for the past couple of years.
Still, the numbers from the increasing job growth and still-increasing unemployment rates tell "conflicting stories."
Another solid jobs report for Utah! https://t.co/1hnqAzgYqn
— Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox (@GovCox) August 16, 2024
"To understand these divergent signals, it is important to note that the jobs numbers and the unemployment rate numbers come from different data sources. The jobs numbers come from a survey of business establishments that counts the number of positions on payrolls. The unemployment rate, by contrast, comes from a survey of households, which counts the number of people who are employed, unemployed or not in the labor market," Crabb said.
One factor contributing to the unemployment rate is youth unemployment, which is rising faster than other age groups in the state.
For workers 16 to 19, the unemployment rate has grown from 5% a year ago to about 12% today.
"That age group makes up a small proportion of the state's overall workforce, but the additional unemployed youth now, compared to a year ago, helps explain about half of the increase in the state's overall unemployment rate over the last year," Crabb said.
And while the jobs and unemployment numbers are pointing in somewhat different directions, Crabb still described Utah's economy as "resilient."
"Job growth has been robust over the last 12 months, even as job openings continue to trend slowly downward and layoffs have inched up," he said. "The higher unemployment rate measures reflect some softening in the labor market, yes, but the 3.2% unemployment rate is still quite low, and the overall picture of the labor market does not raise alarms."
