The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) recently released Utah’s employment summary for July. Per the findings, the non-farm payroll employment for the month increased an estimated 3.0% across the past 12 months.
The state’s economy also added a cumulative 49,300 jobs since July of last year. Currently, Utah’s job count stands at 1,720,300 and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for July is estimated to be 2.4%. There are approximately 43,800 residents of Utah that are unemployed.
The unemployment rate for the state is unrevised at 2.4%, while the July national unemployment rate did move one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.5%.
According to DWS’s Chief Economist Mark Knold, the post-COVID economic resilience remains the dominant picture of the Utah economy. He stated that the job market is still robust and that job postings remain plentiful.
“The large excess of job postings above the long-term norm that we have been speaking about for the past two years has now subsided, but even returning to a ‘normal’ level of job postings is a healthy picture for the Utah job market,” said Knold. “People still have a positive outlook toward the Utah labor market.”
Knold also shared that the percentage of the working age population within the state that are active in the labor market is at its highest level in 14 years.
The private sector employment in Utah for July recorded a year-over-year expansion of 2.8%. This equaled out to a 40,600 job increase. All ten of the major private-sector industry groups have posted net year-over-year job gains.
Overall, the gains are led by leisure and hospitality services at 17,500 jobs. Education and health services follows with just over 10,000 jobs, while other services (4,400 jobs) and construction (4,200 jobs) round out the listings.