October 2009
Unemployment Rate
Click for latest employment situation
Utah: 6.5% U.S.: 10.2%
Year-Over Nonfarm Growth
Utah: -3.3% U.S.: -4.2%

Utah TrendLines Extra
November 1, 2009

Utah Economic News and Data



The state's latest job report offers the first solid hint of a turnaround in Utah's economy, which has been battered by job losses for more than a year. Utah's economy has lost 51,500 jobs—4.1 percent of the state's employment base of about 1. 2 million—in the year that ended in September. While job losses of this magnitude are a sign of an ailing economy, the numbers represent a marked improvement from August, when the year-over-year decline in jobs in Utah was significantly higher, at 4.5 percent. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13568056

The median selling price of existing single-family homes along the Wasatch Front has declined 5 percent over the past year to $213,250 in the third quarter. At the height of the market two years ago, the median price in Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Tooele counties peaked at $234,000, for a total correction of nearly 9 percent. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13651632

Utah Home re-sales fell more than 10 percent during September compared to the same month a year ago. That contrasts sharply with national numbers that show home re-sales rose to their highest level in more than two years. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13628301

Sales of existing homes (single-family and condominiums) in Salt Lake County in September were down 11.6 percent compared with 1,061 sales in September 2008, according to the Salt Lake Board of Realtors. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705339034/Home-sales-slip-116-in-Salt-Lake-County.html

Salt Lake County's apartment vacancy rate was 6.8 percent in the third quarter, up from 4.3 percent a year earlier, according to a CB Richard Ellis report. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705336829/Salt-Lake-County-apartment-vacancy-rate-rises.html

Vacant office space in Salt Lake County hit a five-year high in the third quarter. As of Sept. 30, the office-vacancy rate in Salt Lake County was 14.6 percent, up from 13.8 percent in the 2008 third quarter. The countywide office-vacancy rate reached its highest point since 2004, when it was 20 percent. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705333867/Vacant-office-space-in-Salt-Lake-Co-hits-a-5-year-high.html

An international company that makes heart valves and critical-care monitoring devices is expanding its Utah presence with a new state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Draper, after accepting an incentive package from the state. Edwards Lifesciences Corp.'s new facility is expected to create as many as 1,000 new jobs while maintaining the 228 it already has in Utah. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705335355/Life-sciences-company-will-move-to-Draper-create-up-to-1000-jobs.html

Reservations made at Utah ski resorts in September for trips next January and February —the heart of the season—are up 17 percent and 7 percent, respectively, over those same two months in 2009. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13617787

The new St. Regis Deer Crest Resort located at Deer Valley is set to open soon, creating 300 new Utah jobs. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705335227/Luxury-resort-brings-jobs-in-tough-economic-times.html

A number of industries in Utah have been hit especially hard by the economic downturn, but the state's travel and tourism industry has been able to dodge some of those blows. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705335224/Utah-tourism-industry-has-been-dodging-blows.html

ATK laid off 550 of its employees. ATK said the layoffs were the result of reduced federal government spending from the upcoming completion of two space and defense programs—the space shuttle and the Minuteman III missile. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13497654

ATK's layoff of 550 workers is not the only blow sustained this fall by Utah's aviation and aerospace industry. Moog Aircraft Group, whose Utah operations include a commercial division that develops flight controls for business jets, told 220 employees on Sept. 22 that their jobs will end when existing contracts are completed. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13546293

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah has reported it received 10,706 bankruptcy petitions during the first nine months of 2009. That's a staggering 62 percent increase from the same nine-month period a year ago. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13546100

Hotel occupancy rates were down again last month, but not quite as much as the year-to-date average. Hotels in Salt Lake County filled 66 percent of their rooms in September, down from 73 percent in the same month a year earlier. The statewide average fell to 60 percent last month from 66 percent in September of 2008. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13595502

The number of passengers at Salt Lake City International Airport rose in June, July and August after 14 months of declining numbers. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705334835/Salt-Lake-Airport-travel-increased-over-summer.html

Once envisioned as a regional outlet mall, a 32-square-block tract of land west of Salt Lake City International Airport is rounding into shape now as an industrial park. A 500,000-square-foot Costco warehouse already occupies part of what is known now as Westport Industrial Center, a development that stretches from 300 South to 700 South between 5600 West and 6400 West. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13562024

A vast field of molybdenum below the surface of Bingham Canyon Mine has the potential to extend Rio Tinto's Kennecott Utah Copper mining operations there by years. But only time and more research will determine how much of the field is developed. http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705339700/Moly-may-breathe-new-life-into-pit.html

Utah State University and the Idaho National Laboratory are joining forces for a new research partnership in Utah's mineral-rich Uintah Basin. The deal includes the creation of a research hub in Vernal, the eastern Utah town whose recent history has closely followed oil and gas development. The project will focus on finding ways to make energy development more efficient and easier on the environment. http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_13554003
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