Unemployment at historic low
Text 
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 | 
No Comments [ Add Comment ]
No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Jeff DeMoss
Standard-Examiner staff
jdemoss@standard.net
Home » News 
» Story View
By Jeff DeMoss
Standard-Examiner staff
jdemoss@standard.net
OGDEN -- When the unemployment rate for Utah measured 2.5 percent last October, economists thought it may have bottomed out.
That thought was dashed Tuesday when the Utah Department of Workforce Services reported a statewide jobless rate of 2.3 percent for February.
That's at least the lowest it has been since the early 1950s, and could be the lowest ever, said Mark Knold, senior economist for DWS.
"That's a historic number, especially when you consider that we are still seeing very strong job growth," Knold said. "Current growth is better than I thought Utah could sustain with unemployment at such a historic low."
The state's year-over job growth in February measured 4.4 percent. That was down from last fall, when the growth rate surpassed 5 percent, but is still considerably higher than the long-term statewide average of 3.3 percent.
"That has to be a signal that we have strong in-migration feeding our labor-force growth," Knold said.
Utah continues to outpace the nation as a whole. The U.S. unemployment rate for February was 4.5 percent, with nationwide job growth at 1.5 percent.
Tuesday's report found that Utah has added 52,000 jobs in the past year -- about 2.6 percent of all jobs created nationwide during the period, despite that Utah accounts for less than 1 percent of the U.S. population.
All major employment sectors continue to show at least some growth, indicating a healthy diversity in the local economy, Knold said.
The booming construction industry in the state remains the leader, with 13,400 new jobs and 16 percent employment growth over the past year.
While low unemployment is good for the labor force, it presents challenges for many employers looking to fill job vacancies.
The challenge of finding enough qualified workers is one reason that a sustained rate of high job growth has been somewhat surprising, Knold said.
"It's surprising in that the economy can maintain its buoyancy, even with concerns about restrictive labor-force growth," he said.
Still, with an estimated 30,000 eligible Utahns out of work and companies scrambling to find enough help, "apparently there is room for unemployment to go even lower," he added. "There's no telling what this economy can do."
There are no comments for this page.
Add Your Comment
