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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's unemployment rate has risen to 6 percent after more than 52,000 jobs have been lost over the past year. Last July the rate was 3.4 percent.
Mark Knold, chief economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, says 82,400 Utahns were considered unemployed in July this year compared to 47,300 last year in July. He says the numbers, however, don't tell the entire story.
"The unemployment rate is only representative of those who are out of work and actively looking for work. So there are a lot of discouraged people that aren't counted in this unemployment rate," said Knold.
"The unemployment rate is not being a real proper representation of the economy and what is going on," he continued. "I believe the unemployment rate is too low, that it is really something higher. I believe that revisions that will come later will actually move the unemployment rate up higher."
Knold tells KSL Newsradio even though the number of unemployed people is rising, there are some hopeful signs. He says the number of employers posting jobs at the Department of Workforce Services has started to go up.
The national unemployment rate is at 9.4 percent.
To read the full Workforce Services unemployment rate report, CLICK HERE.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
