Job Vacancy Survey published for 4th Quarter 2012

The Job Vacancy Survey (JVS) is designed to gauge the characteristics of the current demand of labor in Utah. JVS can help job seekers identify occupations in demand and can assist employers in understanding the shared labor needs of the business community. Approximately 4,700 Utah Employers across five geographic areas were surveyed during the fourth quarter of 2012.

Analysis was conducted for statewide as a whole and five sub-state areas. The summary includes items such as education requested by employers, key industry sectors and openings by major occupational group. For more information, you can find
 the entire publication online.

Utah's 2012-2014 Statewide Occupational Projections available

The 2012-2014 Utah Occupational Projections have been published on the DWS website in PDF and excel. To find these on our site, go to the publication page and look for the “Utah Job Outlook” where you will find projections for the state.

Short-term projections are updated every year and includes employment estimates, annual openings and information about preparing for each occupation including education, work experience and job training.

Utah resource guide to help laid‐off workers is released

The Department of Workforce Services has introduced a new resource guide to provide Utahns who have lost jobs with all of the contacts they will need to survive a layoff, manage their finances and find new employment.

This booklet is designed for laid-off workers and their families. It provides practical tips for surviving a layoff and explores the resources available to make the transition to a new job easier. The transition time may take a few days, a few weeks or many months, and the process can be difficult. Knowing what can happen when you are laid off and where to go for assistance can help you avoid some of the problems other people have faced when they lost their job. Salt Lake Tribune

Access the publication online here.

Winter 2012/2013 Trendlines issue available on the Web

This issue features Looking Forward to 2013, and includes how Utah's economy fared in 2012, plus a look at the Construction and Manufacturing industries.

Check out the web issue here.

Like to subscribe to a hard copy? Contact us at greidling@utah.gov or call 801-526-9785.

To get notifications when future issues become available, just fill out your email address here, and choose the items that interest you.

Hiring in Utah Improving, According to Job Vacancies Data

A study on job vacancies has found that the hiring environment in Utah has improved substantially since 2009, the state Department of Workforce Services says.

The study, conducted during the second quarter of 2012, measured the quality and characteristics of job openings in Utah by six geographic areas: statewide, metropolitan, northern, southwestern, non-metropolitan, and the Uintah Basin.

Among the highlights of the study:

• Approximately 27,600 jobs were open in Utah at any time during the quarter. The average wage of those openings was $14.10 per hour.
• Computer software developers and registered nurses were among the most-in-demand occupations requiring post-secondary training.
• Production-related occupations led all major occupational groups in the northern region, with 187 openings.
• Roughly 46 percent of the openings in non-metropolitan Utah were seasonal or temporary, compared to 12.4 percent statewide.
• Openings filled fastest in the southwestern region, with 80 percent open less than 60 days.
• Major occupational groups associated with natural resource extraction activities accounted for one-third of all job openings in the Uintah Basin. Salt Lake Tribune

The entire study can be found here

Census Bureau launches “America’s Economy” App

If you have an Android phone and would like to the have latest U.S. economic indicators at your fingertips, you might want to download the U.S. Census Bureau’s new mobile app “America’s Economy.” The app includes data from not only the Census Bureau, but the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (think GDP, personal income, and trade balances), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (think job growth, consumer price index, and the unemployment rate.

The America's Economy app is available from Googleplay. Of course, I’ve downloaded it. It’s great for checking the most widely-used U.S. economic indicators on the go. An app for iphones will also be available soon. For more information, click here or just head on over to www.census.gov.

New Trendlines Magazine available

The March/April 2012 version of our Trendlines magazine is now available online. This is the first of two special issues, focusing on Utah's Workforce Today. Watch for the May/June 2012 issue focusing on Utah's Businesses Today.

To access the magazine online, click here. To subscribe to a printed copy, call Gail Reidling at 801-526-9785 or email.

New Trendlines Magazine available

The January/February 2012 version of our Trendlines magazine is now available online. Articles in this issue focus on a Look Forward into 2012.

To access the magazine online, click here. To subscribe to a printed copy, call Gail Reidling at 801-526-9785 or email.

There's a Lot More Hiring Going on Than You Might Think

In a recent Trendlines magazine article, Lecia Parks Langston talks about the fluidity of the labor market and new hire data from the Local Employment Dynamics (LED) program. She writes:

Guess how many people were hired during the worst quarter of the "Great Recession" in Utah?  Go ahead and take a guess.  Well, you most likely guesstimated low.  Almost 127,000 Utah workers found a new job in the first quarter of 2010.  In other words, almost 12 percent of the jobs tracked by the LED system were held by a "new hire."  And, that's the worst quarter.  These figures appear even more remarkable over time.  New hires averaged more than 200,000 per quarter between 2007 and 2010.

To read the whole article, click here.

Is Utah's Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund Solvent?

In a recent Trendlines magazine article, Bill Starks, the Unemployment Insurance Director at the Utah Department of Workforce Services discusses the solvency of the unemployment insurance trust fund. To read his article, click here.

Fun, Beauty and Culture Support Economic Growth

Economist Jim Robson talks about the employment impact of tourism in Utah in a recent Trendlines magazine article:

The leisure and hospitality industry provides a significant number of jobs, wages, and economic activity within Utah.  Not only do Utahns enjoy the great beauty, diversity, and year round recreation, travel, and tourism activities within the state, but people flock here from all parts of the globe.  The visitors to our ski resorts, national and state parks, historical sites, and festivals bring with them the income that sustains the economic vitality of many communities across the state.

Ten counties in Utah derive more than 15 percent of their nonfarm jobs from the leisure and hospitality industry. For these counties, and others in the nonmetropolitan parts of the state, recreation, travel, and tourism activities are main economic drivers.

You can read the full article by clicking here.

Unemployment Insurance Usage During the Recession

(Click to Enlarge)

In a recent Trendlines magazine article, Chief Economist, Mark Knold, writes:

Not all geographic areas in Utah are the same. Urban and rural distinctions abound and industry makeup plays a part. Therefore, different usage patterns arise in filings for unemployment insurance claims.  Different parts of the state show different levels of usage, and each area has its own distinct explanation.

For example, a high amount of unemployment insurance activity surfaces in eastern Utah, specifically Uintah County. This is an economy heavily dependent on natural gas production.  There was a period covering most of 2009 in which energy prices collapsed and employment levels fell off noticeably. As a result, this county experienced a pocket of high unemployment insurance usage (this includes Roosevelt in Duchesne County for the same reason).

Another area with high usage is Washington County in the state’s southwest corner.  This area was hit hard by the housing price bubble. Its sunbelt features and proximity to Las Vegas drove in-migration and resultant housing speculation. The end result was a sharply collapsing construction sector and an unprecedented three-year period of job loss. Claims counts soared in this region, an event that is much out of the ordinary for this normally high-flying economy. These events also impacted Iron County, Washington County’s neighbor to the north.

To read the entire article, click here.

Surveying the Recession Upon Utah's Counties

In his recent Trendlines magazine article, economist Mark Knold writes about the effect of the recession on Utah's counties:

The Great Recession has taken its toll upon Utah's economy.  Job counts are rebounding across the state but still remain below their peak level prior to the recession.  Utah is starting to add jobs back to its rolls, with many counties seeing employment increasing.  But several counties are noted as having multiple years of employment declines that have not yet reversed themselves.

These are mostly rural counties and include Box Elder, Carbon, Emery, Iron, Juab, Morgan, Piute, Rich, Sanpete, Washington, and Weber.  Some of these counties look like their employment levels have bottomed out -- they just haven't started to rebound yet.  Others look like they are still trending downward.

 Read the entire article by clicking here.

New Trendlines Magazine available

The November/December 2011 version of our TrendLines magazine is now available online. Many of the articles focus on the effects of the past recession. To access the magazine, click here.

Utilities Industry Snapshot

The utilities industry includes firms that provide power, natural gas, and water/sewage removal. When the Department of Workforce Services publish employment-related information at the “supersector” level (trade/transportation/utilities), the utilities industry receives a rather short shrift. After all, utilities—with fewer than 4,100 jobs statewide—accounts for less than 2 percent of total trade/transportation/utilities employment in Utah.  In addition, another 2,200 utilities jobs also lie hidden in local government employment. These employees work for government-owned water, sewer and electric power entities.

Check out the full article by Lecia Langston in our TrendLines magazine by clicking here.

A National & Regional Green Jobs Assessment

In a recent Trendlines magazine article, economist Jim Robson writes:

While interest in understanding the green economy has been high in recent years, it has been problematic to define, isolate, and count. Currently, there is no national green database with standard industry and occupational classifications across states, regions, and metropolitan areas. The numerous green jobs and green economy studies done in recent years have somewhat different definitions and methodologies that have prevented suitable regional and state comparisons.

To address these data and definitional shortcomings, the Metropolitan Policy Program at The Brookings Institution in association with Battelle Technology Partnership Practice (Brookings/Battelle), developed a database at the establishment level for every county in the U.S. covering the years 2003 to 2010. This database has enabled Brookings/Battelle to produce a study—Sizing the Clean Economy, A National and Regional Green Jobs Assessment. This study provides timely major industry and occupational green jobs analysis for all states, the District of Columbia, and for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the U.S.

To read the entire article, click here.

Profiling the Recession Upon Classes Within the Labor Force

Mark Knold writes in a recent Trendlines magazine article:

Unemployment insurance claim levels exploded beginning in October 2008. Those having an active unemployment insurance claim rose from 13,400 in September 2008, to 44,000 by March 2009.  Before and after snapshots can be profiled upon the unemployment insurance claimants to see how various gender, educational, and social-economic labor-force cohorts surface within the unemployment insurance system, and how they were impacted by the recession. To do this, pre-recession trends and patterns are established. Then those patterns are evaluated as the recession unfolds, and what is looked for are noticeable deviations from the long-term pattern. When those deviations are seen, then immediate impacts from the recession are assumed.

Who was most likely to file for unemployment insurance benefits? Find out by reading the entire article here.

Defining "Green" Jobs

In our recent edition of Trendlines Magazine, economist Jim Robson writes about defining "green" jobs:

In recent years, public policies nationally and internationally are increasingly focused on the need to transform economic activities to be sustainable, secure, and healthier. Economic activities—production, invest20lth, conserve resources, and secure our energy future have been given the label “green.”

Concepts and discussions of the green economy have been with us for many years, but attempts to understand its scope, size, and growth have been stymied by the lack of official government data on green industries, occupations, and employment. As various states, regions, and national organizations have struggled to measure the green economy in the recent past, the need for standard and comprehensive measurement of the green economy became clear.

To read this entire article, click here.

Unemployment & Underutilization of Labor

The Unemployment Rate isn't the only way to measure the state of the economy. John Mathews outlines other ways to define unemployment in his Trendlines Magazine article. Below is an excerpt of the article which you can read in full by clicking here.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes “Alternative Measures of Labor Underutilization.”  These look at labor force participation and labor utilization through increasing stages of discernment. Six ascending measures of labor underutilization emerge, labeled U-1 through U-6.  With each successive step, additional and more liberal criteria are added. These alternative criteria are measured through the Census Bureau’s monthly Current Population Survey (CPS, or commonly called the Household Survey).  Results are compiled and released by BLS.  The closest measure to the official unemployment rate is the U-3 rate, it being “total unemployed as a percent of the civilian labor force.

Is the recovery ready to move into a higher gear?

Let’s highlight some good economic news for a change. Sure the economy is still struggling in Utah, but we need to acknowledge any good piece of news, especially when it is a key economic variable. Utah’s actual employment numbers are in for the first quarter and they came in better than the original survey estimates. Not by anything excessive, but an original 1.7 percent growth estimate is now revised up to 1.9 percent. The best part is that a shift may have occurred, portending a strengthening Utah employment trend.

To read more of this Trendlines magazine article by economist Mark Knold, click here.