Jobless rate still dropping, now sitting at 2.7%

Economists’ opinions vary on what constitutes effective full employment, but the range — usually between 4.1 percent and 4.7 percent, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve — certainly puts Utah in the “fully employed” category. The state’s jobless rate dropped another one-tenth of a percentage point to 2.7 percent in September, the Department of Workforce Services (DWS) announced last week.{mprestriction ids="1,3"}

The Utah unemployment rate means that about 43,000 Utahns were still looking for a job. Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.5 percent.

Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for September grew by an estimated 3 percent from a year ago, adding 45,400 jobs to the economy since September 2018. Utah’s current employment level sits at 1,578,900 job-holders.

“Utah is moving into the latter months of 2019 on a strong economic footing,” said Mark Knold, chief economist at the DWS. “The strength of the Utah economy is in the private sector, where we’ve seen a healthy and diverse job market over the last five years.”

Utah’s private-sector employment has grown by 3.2 percent over the past year with the addition of 41,100 positions. All 10 of the private-sector major industry groups measured in the establishment survey posted net job increases in September. The largest private-sector employment increases were in education and health services (9,400 jobs), professional and business services (8,400 jobs) and manufacturing (5,500 jobs). The fastest employment growth occurred in information services (4.9 percent), construction (4.7 percent) and education and health services (4.5 percent). {/mprestriction}