Job Vacancy Study 2008

NOTE:  The printed version of this publication contains numerous charts and graphs that are not available in this text version.

The Job Vacancy Study (JVS) is designed to gauge the characteristics of the current demand for labor in Utah.

JVS can help job seekers identify occupations in demand and can assist employers in recognizing the existence of skill shortages and labor gaps. Nearly 3,800 employers were surveyed during the fourth quarter of 2008.

Northern Region Summary

Nate Talley, Economist

The JVS northern region includes Box Elder and Cache counties. 

• The job vacancy rate for the northern region was 1.3 percent, meaning there were 1.3 vacancies for every 100 jobs at any time during the fourth quarter of 2008. The region was last surveyed in 2004, when the northern region had about 2.2 vacancies for every 100 jobs. The current vacancy rate translates into approximately 930 open jobs at any time during the survey period.
• The average offered wage for job openings in the area was $14.60/hr, which, even after adjusting for inflation and including the statistical margin of error, is an increase from the $11.10/hr as surveyed in 2004.
• Vacancies in this region were open less than 30 days 58 percent of the time; the only region where vacancies filled faster was the southwestern region.
• The manufacturing and education industries are key components of northern Utah’s economy. Accordingly, JVS statistics for northern Utah are heavily influenced by the hiring activities within those industries. Budget balancing efforts in education and the recession’s negative impact upon manufacturing put downward pressure on the region’s vacancy rate in 2008.

Northern Region Key Industries

• Nine industry groups met the confidentiality requirements for publication.  Of those, six posted fewer openings than they did in 2004.
• The manufacturing and education industries accounted for over 40 percent of the job openings, whereas they accounted for fewer than 13 percent of the openings in metropolitan Utah.
• The manufacturing industry led all sectors with 237 openings, 46 percent of which were for machinists or engineering-related occupations.  Openings for occupations like these inflated the industrial average offering wage to a region-high $21.20/hr, up from $12.80/hr in 2004.  Postsecondary education or training was a prerequisite for 68 percent of the industry’s openings.
• Openings in the retail trade industry fell from 192 in the fourth quarter of 2004, to 120 during the fourth quarter of 2008.  Most of these openings were temporary in nature, with 89 percent of them being seasonal.
• The education industry witnessed a 50 percent decrease in openings since 2004, from 240 openings in 2004 to 137 in 2008.
• The healthcare industry was one of the few industries that experienced a rise in openings. One hundred twenty two openings were captured during the survey period, whereas 94 were found during the fourth quarter of 2004. However, an increase in healthcare employment since 2004 has kept the vacancy rate nearly constant.
• A slowing economic climate affected the north in general, as openings were notably lower in the administrative services, food and accommodation and professional, scientific and technical industries.

Northern Region Education and Experience

• As the unemployment rate rises and more workers become idled, employers have an expanded, skilled pool of workers to fill their job openings. Therefore, companies that are hiring have incentive to require more from applicants. With the lowest vacancy rate of any region surveyed, the northern region’s openings
• Required postsecondary education or training 40 percent of the time, which was more than any other region.
• Required related experience 31 percent of the time; the only region where openings required more experience was southwestern Utah.
• Required a license or certification 58 percent of the time, more than any other region.
• The average offered wage for positions requiring postsecondary training was $21.90/hr.

Northern Region Key Occupations

• Occupations differ from industries in that a particular occupation may be found across many different industries.
• An occupational vacancy rate is the number of open occupations divided by the total occupational employment.  Jobs with high occupational vacancy rates are those that had many openings relative to the total employment in that occupation.
• This year, ten occupations in the north met the study’s confidentiality standards for publication.
• Of occupations that require postsecondary training, machinists were the most in-demand.
• Despite a down economy, customer service representatives were reported as being open for longer than 60 days or “always” open, 78 percent of the time.

Northern Region Status & Benefits

• About two-thirds of the openings in northern Utah were for full-time employment.
• At 87 percent, the vast majority of openings in the north were for permanent employment.
• Sixty-three percent of the openings offered at least some kind of employer-provided benefit, with medical benefits being the most frequently offered.

Metropolitan Area Region Summary

Nate Talley, Economist

• The JVS metropolitan region includes Salt Lake, Utah, Wasatch, Weber, Summit, Morgan, Davis, Tooele and Juab counties. This area accounts for over 80 percent of Utah’s labor market activity.
• The job vacancy rate for the metropolitan region was 1.8 percent, meaning there were 1.8 vacancies for every 100 jobs at any time during the fourth quarter of 2008. This is down considerably from the 3.3 percent measured during the fourth quarter of 2007. The current vacancy rate translates into approximately 18,900 jobs open at any time during the survey period.
• The average offered wage for job openings surveyed was $13.40/hr, which is statistically identical to the 2007 estimate of $13.10/hr after factoring in the survey’s margin of error.
• Open jobs are filling much faster than in 2007. Over half of the openings in metropolitan Utah were open for fewer than 30 days.  In 2007, only 32 percent of the openings were vacant for fewer than 30 days.
• Utah has decelerated from an aggressive economic expansion into a recession, and as a corollary, the demand for labor has slowed significantly. The job vacancy rate of 1.8 is the lowest on record. Almost every sector witnessed a decrease in openings since 2007.  However, some industries and occupations perennially outperform regional vacancy rates, indicating that even in a recessionary economic climate, there is sustained demand for some skill sets.

Metropolitan Area Key Industries

• The entertainment and recreation industry had the highest vacancy rate, mostly because of seasonal hiring at ski resorts.
• Fifteen of 17 publishable industry groups had fewer openings than they did in the fourth quarter of 2007.
• The retail trade, healthcare, and food and accommodation industries accounted for almost 40 percent of the job openings.
• The manufacturing industry appears to be seeking a higher skill level within the composition of its openings.  In 2007, there were approximately 105 openings for engineering-related occupations in manufacturing. Most recently, openings for engineering-related occupations accounted for 145 of the industry’s vacancies.  This increase in demand, coupled with the shedding of openings for lower-wage jobs, contributed to the increase in the industry’s average offered wage from $14.20/hr in 2007 to $16.60/hr.  Further, in 2007, 12 percent of the industry’s openings required a bachelor’s or advanced degree, compared with 23 percent in 2008.
• The job vacancy study, like other economic indicators, depicts the construction industry as having been heavily affected by the current recession. During the fourth quarter of 2007, 3,449 job openings were captured in the construction industry. During the fourth quarter of 2008, it is estimated that there were only 310 openings in the industry, which corresponds to a 0.4 percent vacancy rate. The vacancy rate in construction was the lowest of any industry surveyed.
• The healthcare industry consistently posts an above average vacancy rate, and with a rate of 2.6, 2008 was no exception.  Nonetheless, job openings in the healthcare industry are fewer than in 2007 and it seems that the longstanding labor shortage that has affected the industry is beginning to compress. In 2007, 47 percent of the industry’s openings were reported as open for longer than 60 days, or “always open.” Open jobs filled faster during the fourth quarter of 2008 as 36 percent of the openings were vacant for 60 days, or “always open.”
• One third of all openings in the healthcare industry were for nursing occupations.
• The healthcare industry can once again be characterized as the industry with the greatest need for skilled labor.  Sixty percent of the vacancies in the industry required postsecondary training.
• At $21.00/hr, the transportation and warehousing industry has supplanted the professional, technical and scientific industry as having the highest average offered wage for openings during the fourth quarter.  Yet, this should not be confused with the average wage for full employment within the industry.  The average offered wage for openings in the industry is a portrayal of the high concentration of vacancies for seasonal truck drivers. Seasonal openings for skilled positions may offer high wages to attract the labor necessary to meet this short-term demand. Of the 527 openings in the industry, 417 of them were for heavy truck drivers and over 30 percent of those openings were seasonal.
• The number of openings in the retail trade industry fell by nearly 50 percent, a very telling variable within that industry’s peak season. Seasonal and part-time openings comprised a greater percentage of retail trade vacancies than in years past, with only 24 and 45 percent being full-time and permanent, respectively.
• Openings in the food and accommodation industry followed a similar pattern as those in the retail trade industry.  There were less than half as many openings as the year before, and fewer of those openings were for full-time, permanent employment.

Metropolitan Area Education & Experience

• The percentage of job openings requiring postsecondary education fell from 29 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 25 percent during the final quarter of 2008. However, of the openings that did not require training beyond high school, only 22 percent required a license or certificate in 2007, compared with 36 percent in 2008. Such data suggests that, when responding to the survey, some employers chose to emphasize the certificate gained from skills taught in postsecondary training programs, rather than the programs themselves. It is important to note that training programs are often the best method of obtaining the skills necessary to acquire the licenses or certificates for which employers seek.
• Approximately half of all openings required no work experience.  Vacancies that require no work experience are generally entry level and have a greater tendency to be part-time or seasonal.
• In this contracting economy, employers have leverage to ask for more work experience at lesser compensation.  The average offered wage for openings requiring related experience was $18.50/hr, which is down from $19.30/hr during the fourth quarter of 2007.
• The average offered wage for positions requiring postsecondary training was $21.50/hr.

Metropolitan Area Key Occupations

• Occupations differ from industries in that a particular occupation may be found across many different industries.
• An occupational vacancy rate is the number of open occupations divided by the total occupational employment.  Jobs with high occupational vacancy rates are those that had many openings relative to the total employment in that occupation.
• Openings for difficult-to-fill occupations are generally characterized by being open for longer than 60 days, or “always open,” having strong average offered wages and requiring some form of training or education beyond high school.
• Registered nurses and computer software engineers have had above average vacancy rates every year surveyed.

Metropolitan Area Status & Benefits

• A change in status of job openings can help employers to reduce labor costs.  In the fourth quarter of 2007, 65 percent of the openings were for full-time employment and 88 percent were for permanent employment. During the fourth quarter of 2008, 53 percent of the vacancies were of full-time status and 75 percent were for permanent positions.
• Cost-cutting measures can also include reducing the incidence of employer-provided benefits.  In 2007, 63.5 percent of the openings offered some kind of benefit. Most recently, 52 percent of openings offered some type of benefit.

Uintah Basin Region Summary

Elizabeth Arnold, Research Analyst

The JVS Uintah Basin region includes Daggett, Duchesne and Uintah counties. 

• The job vacancy rate in the Uintah Basin measured 2.2 percent, meaning there were just over two open positions for every 100 jobs. This is a significant drop from last year’s survey, with about 540 open jobs at anytime during the fourth quarter compared to over 1,100 in 2007.
• The average offered wage for openings in the Basin was $15.40/hr, which was higher than last year’s offerings, and also, the highest of any region surveyed.
• It appears that vacant jobs filled slightly faster than they did in 2007. Seventy-one percent of the openings were vacant for more than 30 days, compared to 85 percent in 2007.
• The mining industry is the driving force behind the Uintah Basin economy.  As energy prices fell from their peak last summer, production activities related to oil and gas extraction—a subset of the mining industry supersector—slowed.Therefore, the demand for labor in the region slowed with it.

Uintah Basin Key Industries

• As has been the trend for several years, the mining industry accounted for a large proportion of the vacant jobs in the Uintah Basin, at almost 30 percent of all job openings.
• The entire region’s openings fell by 54 percent, which is almost exactly the same percentage drop as the mining industry’s openings, reflecting the strong correlation between this industry and the region as a whole.
• The average offered wage in the mining industry increased by over $4/hr from 2007 to 2008. This may be due to the residual effects of the Uintah Basin’s increase in energy exports last summer.
• The construction industry fell dramatically in comparison to 2007, with 230 openings then, but fewer than 20 in 2008.
• Other industries that experienced significant declines in job openings include retail trade, transportation, healthcare, and government.

Uintah Basin Education & Experience

• Only 11.7 percent of job openings in the Basin required postsecondary education.  This statistic is a reflection of the high demand for hands-on energy labor. This puts downward pressure on training requirements throughout the Basin and inflates the average offered wage.
• Job openings requiring applied technology training offered the highest wage compared to other education levels.
• About one-third of all job openings required some form of licensure or certification.
• The openings requiring applied technology training stayed open the longest, with 72 percent being open more than 60 days, or “always open.”

Uintah Basin Key Occupations

• Occupations differ from industries in that a particular occupation may be found across many different industries.
• An occupational vacancy rate is the number of open occupations divided by the total occupational employment.  Jobs with high occupational vacancy rates are those that had many openings relative to the total employment in that occupation.
• This year, seven occupations in the Uintah Basin met the study’s confidentiality standards for publication.
• In 2007, truck drivers were in high demand, but in the fourth quarter of 2008 that demand weakened.  However, this position still had the highest average offered wage in the region at almost $21/hr. 
• Both retail occupations—salespersons and cashiers—were the most in-demand in the Basin in 2008. 

Uintah Basin Status & Benefits

• Over 68 percent of job openings offered benefits in at least one of four categories: medical, paid sick leave, paid vacation, and retirement. This is a slight drop from 2007, but the Uintah Basin still offers the highest percentage of benefits compared to other regions in the state. 
• The most commonly offered benefit was paid vacation, at two-thirds of all job vacancies posted. 
• Over 77 percent of the open jobs reported were full-time positions, and 98 percent of all open positions were permanent positions—the highest of any region surveyed.

Southwestern Region Summary

Nate Talley, Economist

• The JVS southwestern region is comprised of Iron and Washington counties, which includes Utah’s southernmost metropolitan statistical area.
• The job vacancy rate for the southwestern region was 1.5 percent, meaning there were 1.5 vacancies for every 100 jobs at any time during the fourth quarter of 2008.  Vacancy diminution was profound considering that the 2007 rate was 4.1 percent.  The current vacancy rate translates into approximately 990 open jobs at any time during the survey period.
• The region’s average offered wage has hovered in the $11.20/hr to $12.70/hr range since first being surveyed in 2004.  That trend continued in 2008 as the average offered wage came in at $11.30/hr.
• It can be inferred that open jobs in the southwestern region filled faster than openings in any other survey area, as 62 percent of all vacancies—a high for the 2008 study—were open less than 30 days.
• With the highest unemployment rate of any area studied, the southwestern region remains vulnerable to the destabilization of its housing market. Southwestern Utah’s previous vacancy rate trough was 3.1 percent, but at 1.5 percent, the fourth quarter 2008 vacancy rate was much lower than its previous bottom.

Southwestern Key Industries

• Seven industry groups met the confidentiality requirements for publication.  Four of those groups had fewer openings than in 2007.
• The retail sales, manufacturing and education industries comprised 64 percent of the area’s vacancies.
• In 2004 and 2005, the manufacturing industry reported hundreds of openings, but in 2007, the industry did not report enough vacancies to allow for the production of statistically valid estimates.  During the fourth quarter of 2008, vacancies in manufacturing returned to form, totaling 184.  Southwestern openings in manufacturing—unlike those in the north and metro regions—did not require much postsecondary training, but they required a license or certificate 40 percent of the time.  Such licensure requirements contributed to the industry posting a region-high average offered wage of $14.20/hr.
• Vacancies in the healthcare sector experienced a major downturn since the fourth quarter of 2007. Healthcare led the region for openings in 2007 with over 1,000, but during the fourth quarter of 2008, fewer than 100 were observed. The openings filled much faster than in 2007 as well, with 61 percent open less than 30 days, compared to 37 percent in 2007.
• The retail sales industry, usually an abundant source of vacancies during the fourth quarter, fell from 612 in 2007, to 292 during the fourth quarter of 2008.  Demand for seasonal labor dominated the openings at 86 percent, compared to 40 percent in 2007.  The average offered wage fell considerably as well, from $9.70/hr in 2007 to $7.60/hr.
• Construction employment continued to decline in southwestern Utah and openings followed suit.  Openings in construction were so infrequent that there was not enough data available to produce vacancy estimates for the industry.
• The transportation and warehousing industry posted 62 openings, up from 38 in 2007. However, 2008’s openings were still not near levels seen in 2004 and 2005.  The average offered wage for openings in the industry waned since 2007—from $16.80/hr to $12.70/hr—as a third of the sector’s openings were for customer service representatives, which is a relatively low-paying occupation.
• Southwestern Utah’s relatively weak economic environment affected openings in the information, food and accommodation, and education industries, all of which were fewer in number than when previously surveyed.

Southwestern Education & Experience

• Openings in southwestern Utah required related experience 35 percent of the time, which was the most of any region surveyed, and up from 16 percent in 2007.
• Openings in southwestern Utah required a license or certificate 29 percent of the time, which was the lowest of any region surveyed.
• Openings in southwestern Utah required postsecondary training or education 22 percent of the time, with the average offered wage for these openings being $14.90/hr.

Southwestern Key Occupations

• Occupations differ from industries in that a particular occupation may be found across many different industries.
• An occupational vacancy rate is the number of open occupations divided by the total occupational employment.  Jobs with high occupational vacancy rates are those that had many openings relative to the total employment in that occupation.
• This year, eight occupations in the southwestern region met the study’s confidentiality standards for publication.
• Openings for teacher’s assistants have been consistently reported since 2004, indicating a sustained demand for this occupation.
• As in 2007, openings for retail salespersons and cashiers were the most plentiful. However, they were markedly fewer than measured in 2007.

Southwestern Status & Benefits

• Only 44 percent of the openings in the southwest were for full-time employment, the lowest of any region surveyed.
• Seventy three percent of the openings in the southwest were for permanent employment, the lowest of any region surveyed.
• Since opening status and employer-provided benefits are related, it should come as no surprise that openings in the southwest offered employer-provided benefits less frequently than openings in other regions, at 47 percent.