Job Growth Keeps Truckin’ Upward in Utah

Utah’s unemployment rate in October fell for the third consecutive month, while job growth accelerated to a four-month high, the state Department of Workforce Services said Friday.

The jobless rate fell to 5.2 percent last month, down from 5.4 percent in September. Although that rate is at its lowest level since November 2008, 70,800 Utahns are still unemployed, according to the department.

The U.S. unemployment rate was 7.9 percent in October, up 0.1 percentage point from the previous month Employment in Utah expanded by 2.3 percent from October 2011, a 12-month increase of 28,300 jobs, the department said. Nationally, employment grew just 1.4 percent.

Mark Knold, the Workforce Services chief economist, said the latest decline in the unemployment rate, coupled with what he said was probably a conservative estimate of job growth that will be revised upward to close to 3.5 percent, suggests Utah’s recovery from the recession and tepid recovery continues to pick up speed.

"There is still a lot of repair left to be done from the recession setback, but we are certainly moving a lot faster down that trail than we were a year ago," Knold said.

"It’s a multiyear trail, but this is a good pace."

With the exception of construction and government, all sectors of Utah’s economy contributed to job growth. The most robust category was professional and business services, which added 10,800 jobs over the last 12 months. Construction lost 1,200 jobs; government employment was off by 900 jobs.

The trade, transportation and utilities sector was the second-most active area of Utah’s economy, with 4,300 hires over the past year. Much of the activity is taking place at C.R. England, the giant Salt Lake City-based trucking company. It’s put on 1,400 new drivers since January. Salt Lake Tribune