Chamber updates its Economic Dashboard

The Salt Lake Chamber’s Economic Dashboard, recently updated with new data, shows Utah with good results despite a small dip in consumer confidence because of the surge in COVID-19 and its variants. Among other findings, the dashboard shows Utah’s two-year job growth as the highest in the nation. Utah’s September two-year job growth of 3.4 percent is the highest in the nation and one of only three states showing positive job change.

The chamber’s Economic Dashboard is a service of the organization’s Roadmap to Prosperity Coalition in partnership with the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. The chamber bills the dashboard as helping business leaders know where Utah stands in the overall recovery. The tool tracks the state’s path to a economic recovery from the pandemic recession and provides context for decision-makers, the chamber said.

“Our continued productivity and economic expansion during the pandemic with unemployment among the lowest in the nation is remarkable,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber and Downtown Alliance. “This dashboard shows we are on the right path from shock to recovery, and now into a growing economy across several industries. Challenges remain for our hospitality and service sectors, but the broad nature of this recovery gives confidence that these parts of the economy will return. Utah continues to be a shining star of business and community leadership in overcoming the pandemic and its challenges.”

The lingering challenges of COVID-19 temper progress, Millers said, but broad labor participation coupled with job growth forecasts continue to strengthen the recovery.

“Utah continues to be the gold standard when it comes to collaboration, resilience and broad industry sector strength,” said Miller.

The dashboard also shows Utah’s unemployment rate dropping below pre-pandemic levels. Utah’s September unemployment rate of 2.4 percent is lower than the February 2019 rate of 2.5 percent, ranking it second in the nation. Job change is uneven across industries, though. While Utah has seen two-year job growth overall, not all industries have expanded. Jobs have declined in the leisure and hospitality sector as well as in other services, government and natural resources industries.

The dashboard is updated monthly, tracking 10 leading measures. It can be found at https://slchamber.com/resources/roadmap-dashboard/.

“This report highlights the strength of Utah’s economic fundamentals across several indicators heading into the fourth quarter,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “We still see a lag in leisure and hospitality, government, natural resources and some services, but the strength of other indicators can be expected to bring these sectors along. With labor force participation growing and consumer confidence rebounding as shoppers head into retail season, our economy is on the right path and accelerating into year-end.”