Utah’s job losses 'more moderate' in February

Utah’s job losses 'more moderate' in February

The Deseret News
Published: Thursday, March 18, 2010 8:53 p.m. MDT

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's economy is slowly improving, with more moderate job losses in February, according to an employment summary issued Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Services.

February employment numbers show that Utah's nonfarm wage and salaried job count has contracted by 2.3 percent over the past 12 months, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. Since February 2009, about 27,700 jobs have been lost from the state's economy, leaving total wage and salary employment at just under 1.17 million.


The state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is 7.1 percent, up 0.3 percent from January and a full percentage point higher than just one year ago.

Last month, 95,300 Utahns were considered unemployed. Nationally, unemployment stayed at 9.7 percent.

The report noted that "the employment change number is noticeably improving because of the time frame now under reference. … Last year's rough patch makes this year's modest declines look less severe."

The report added, "There is also building evidence that the job market is starting to slowly awaken and that the employer community is beginning to again look for workers with which to expand their business output."

For example, Wall Street investment bank Goldman Sachs on Thursday announced the expansion of its Utah regional operations to approximately 1,150 employees, up from about 720 currently.

Despite that optimism, one local analyst expressed a bit less confidence in the jobs market.

Unemployment numbers are expected to rise in coming months, not because the economy is getting worse but because would-be workers who had given up will again start looking for work, said Randy Shumway, chief executive officer of The Cicero Group, a market research and consulting firm that tracks economic indicators.

"Despite an increase in jobs, unemployment will creep to 10 percent or higher," Shumway said. "As there's positive energy, more will enter the labor market," and that trend will be followed by "hopefully, stabilizing and tapering off" of the unemployment rate.

e-mail: lois@desnews.com, jlee@desnews.com
© 2010 Deseret News Publishing Company | All rights reserved