SALT LAKE CITY — Job growth remains strong in Utah with the state’s economy adding cumulative 56,600 jobs opening since July 2021, according to data provided by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

While the July national unemployment rate has inched lower to 3.5%, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate in Utah for the month of July stayed at an estimated 2.0%, a historic low.

“It’s wildly low,” DWS Public Information Officer Sarah Nielson said.

“High inflation and now two consecutive quarters of declining national Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would normally be accompanied by lowering job counts” Mark Knold, chief economist at the DWS, said in a press release. “But neither is the case at both the national and state levels where job growth was aggressive in July.”

Knold said there are developments occurring across the nation in the labor market that are diverging from past performance.

“Nationally, baby boomers are leaving the labor force faster than new ones are entering,” he said. “This is producing unfilled jobs, lowering GDP, making labor searches difficult, and contributing to higher inflation through increased wage bidding. This labor deficit is why negative GDP change is not morphing into a jobs recession.”

According to the DWS, eight of Utah’s 10 major private-sector industry groups posted net year-over-year job gains, led by trade, transportation and utilities (13,600 jobs); leisure and hospitality (12,000); education and health services (10,700); and construction (8,900). The two sectors with job contractions include professional and business services (-2,800 jobs) and financial activities (-1,700).

County unemployment rates will be posted Monday at https://jobs.utah.gov/wi/update/une/season.pdf. August’s employment information will be released at 7 a.m. Sept. 16.

Daily Herald reporter Genelle Pugmire contributed to this report.

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