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SALT LAKE CITY -- The recession might be coming to an end, but unemployment will like rise, possibly until the first half of next year.
Zions Bank Chief Economist Jeff Thredgold said, "Unfortunately, that number is going to move toward 10 percent, maybe 10.25 percent, something like that."
But, why does unemployment go up if the economy improves?
Related:
Recession eases; GDP dip smaller than expected
The economy sank at a pace of just 1 percent in the second quarter of the year, the strongest signal yet that the longest recession since World War II is finally winding down."[It's] partly because more people hear good news about the economy, or better news. [Then] they come into the labor force and they're not immediately hired," Thredgold explained.
He says there will be problems with commercial real estate. "There are going to be some problems with refinancing a lot of the debt that was initially issued for commercial real estate projects around the country. We know that there is going to be continuing problems with foreclosure," he says.
Thredgold says Utah's economy should return to reasonable levels of performance in the first or second quarter of 2010.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
