Utah’s unemployment rate continued to drift lower in May, but the rate at which employers created jobs slowed notably as the effects of federal sequestration continued to kick in.
The statewide jobless rate fell to 4.6 percent last month from 4.7 percent in April, the state Department of Workforce Services said Friday, June 21st. The rate is at its lowest level this year and has been under 5 percent since February.
Carrie Mayne, the Workforce Services department’s top economist, focuses on long-term patterns. Utah’s economy has vigorously outpaced the rest of the country since the Great Recession ended four years ago, so it’s not possible to conclude much from one month of slower job growth, she said.
Of the 11 job sectors that make up Utah’s economy, only government showed real weakness.
Led mostly by federal and state agencies, that sector shed 5,200 jobs from May 2012 to last month. Federal employment fell 1.9 percent, with the steepest declines in defense-related jobs. State employment dropped 5.1 percent, mainly because the spring semester at Utah’s public colleges and universities ended in a week that was later than last year when classes were still in session.
With the exception of mining, which hasn’t added or subtracted jobs in the past year, more people are at work in all remaining nine sectors of the economy. The biggest gainer was in trade, transportation and utilities. Employment in that sector expanded by 10,900 jobs. Professional and business services was second, with 7,400 new jobs. Salt Lake Tribune
