SALT LAKE CITY (Jan. 19, 2024) — Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for December 2023 increased an estimated 1.7% across the past 12 months, with the state’s economy adding a cumulative 28,900 jobs since December 2022. Utah’s current job count stands at 1,734,700.

December’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is estimated at 2.8%. Approximately 50,900 Utahns are unemployed. Utah’s November unemployment rate is unrevised at 2.8%. The December national unemployment rate is unchanged at 3.7%. More...

The Utah Department of Workforce Services in partnership with the Utah State Tax Commission began accepting applications for the new Adoption Tax Credit certification. In 2023, the Utah Legislature passed the Adoption Tax Credit, H.B. 130, allowing eligible Utahns to receive a maximum credit of $3,500 in the year they finalized their adoption. More...

By Gwen Kervin

Since March of 2022, the Federal Reserve has been raising interest rates in an attempt to cool inflation and slow the economy. However, so far, the effect on Utah’s labor market has been minimal. Constricted labor markets following the COVID pandemic caused employers to have a hard time filling open positions. Because employers struggled to find workers, a large gap developed in unmet labor demand. This elevated wages, which in turn lured marginal workers into the labor force, helping to fill some of the vacancies. While Utah continues to turn in job growth numbers, growth rates have come down from the highs experienced in 2021 and 2022, resulting in a reduction in the unmet labor gap. Because of this, any additional Fed rate moves could have a more immediate influence on the Utah labor market going forward. More...