Industry Projections and Employment Concentration

Projections for Utah’s industry supersectors employment from 2010 to 2020 and the concentration of the state’s workforce by industry sector are shown in the accompanying table. The fastest growing sector is projected to be construction, but as this article points out, the expansion will only be a recovery of loss from the Great Recession, not new growth. In fact, even with the high rate of growth, this industry is not expected to fully recover from the recession to return to its 2007 peak level within this decade.

The slowest growing sector is projected to be government, which includes federal, state, and local but not education or health care. The education/health services sector, on the other hand, expects a high rate of growth during the decade and also had the highest concentration of the state’s employment in 2010. While a large proportion of the state’s workforce is employed in trade/transportation/utilities, this sector has a relatively low projected growth rate.

Job seekers can use this information to make well-informed career decisions that can better ensure favorable outcomes.  In addition to industry projections, the Department of Workforce Services compiles economic and labor market information resources which can be accessed here.

Industry Supersector	Projected 2010-2020 Growth Rate	Utah Employment Concentration By Industry In 2010
Construction	3.51%	5.13%
Professional and business services	2.98%	11.96%
Education and health services	2.72%	19.41%
Self-employed and unpaid family worker	2.17%	7.15%
Financial activities	2.13%	5.34%
Natural resources and mining	2.10%	2.28%
Leisure and hospitality	1.74%	8.69%
Other services	1.63%	2.93%
Trade, transportation, and utilities	1.58%	18.43%
Manufacturing	1.45%	8.72%
Information	1.39%	2.30%
Government	1.15%	7.65%
Source: Department of Workforce Services