Number of employed Utahns back to pre-pandemic level

Utah’s unemployment rate inched closer to its all-time low in February at 3 percent, according to figures released by the Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS). The best jobless rate ever recorded in Utah was 2.3 percent, coming just over one year earlier, in January 2020, prior to the outbreak of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic.

February’s national jobless rate fell slightly to 6.2 percent. The lowest nationwide rate ever recorded was 3.4 percent in 1969 during the first year of Richard Nixon’s presidency.

“Utah’s deliberate and steady pace toward job recovery continues,” said Mark Knold, chief economist at DWS. “February finds Utah’s employment count at equality with a year ago. Idaho is the only other state that can make such a claim. All other states are still struggling to get their economies pointed in the right direction. Utah’s private sector is leading its job rebound. Employment gains would be further along if not for COVID-19’s restraining effects upon the education sector.”

Utah’s total nonfarm payroll employment has now regained its pre-pandemic level, DWS said. Across all sectors in February, the agency said 1,566,900 people held jobs in the state, just 300 fewer than in February 2020.

Utah’s private-sector employment is slightly ahead of the overall figures, showing an increase of 0.7 percent in the past year. Five of Utah’s 10 private-sector major industry groups posted net year-over-year job gains, led by trade, transportation and utilities (10,900 jobs); professional and business services (8,500 jobs); and construction (5,000 jobs). Five industry groups remain with year-over-year employment declines, most notably leisure and hospitality services (down 13,200 jobs), education and healthcare (down 6,100 jobs) and the information sector with a loss of 1,400 jobs.