The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) has released the data regarding Utah’s employment summary for November of 2023.
In November, the non-farm payroll for the state increased an estimated 2% and the state’s economy added a cumulative 34,700 jobs since the same time last year. Currently, the job count for Utah stands at 1,744,100.
The seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate for the month was estimated to be at 2.8%, which is a one-tenth of a percentage point increase from October. Currently, there are approximately 50,300 Utahns who are unemployed, making the October unemployment rate unrevised at 2.7%. However, November’s national unemployment rate did decrease two-tenths of a percent point to 3.7%.
Mark Knold, who is the chief economist at the DWS, shared that Utah remains in a job growth mode that is centered around the 2% range. That range is slightly below the state’s long-term average and the economy has rotated around this focal point for the past several months, according to Knold.
“Reduced in-migration this year is a leading reason for Utah’s growth moderation. Also, the inflation-fighting procedures employed by the Federal Reserve are producing more of an economic dampening effect this year than they did last year,” Knold stated. “But given those headwinds, Utah is still pushing forward with job growth.”
Overall job gains for Utah in the month of November were led by leisure and hospitality services with 10,000 jobs. This was followed by education and health services with 8,500 jobs and construction with 3,600. Information had 2,800 jobs, while trade/transportation/utilities and natural resources both had job losses.