March job numbers in Utah may foretell the year

March job numbers in Utah may foretell the year

By Laura Hancock, Deseret News
Published: March 2, 2009

As unemployment in Utah creeps toward 5 percent, the Utah Department of Workforce Services will watch the number of new unemployment claims filed throughout March, as the month will be the bellwether for the rest of 2009.

If the claim numbers are to ease off in the next month or so, the economy will likely recover during the second two quarters of 2009, as economists originally forecasted for Utah.

But if claim numbers remain high beyond March, then economists will have to revisit the expected depth and duration of the recession, the Utah Department of Workforce Services announced Monday when it released its monthly employment and unemployment data.

From January 2008 to January 2009, the number of nonfarm wage and salaried jobs contracted by 1.6 percent. About 20,400 jobs have been removed from the Utah economy in that time, lowering the total wage and salary employment to 1.2 million.

The unemployment rate in January was 4.6 percent, up from 3.2 percent in January 2008.

About 64,300 Utahns were considered unemployed in January, compared to 43,400 in January 2008.

Interestingly, the recession is hitting men harder than women in the Beehive State because the worst-hit industries are comprised mostly of male workers. For instance, 14,000 jobs have been lost in construction, an industry that is 80 percent male workers.

Manufacturing has lost 8,800 jobs in the past year. Seventy percent of its workers are men.

E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com
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