the outlook | by lecia parks langston, economist

Joining the Blogosphere . . .We’ve just launched our own blog

The economists at the Utah Department of Workforce Services have just launched a blog. You might guess that it is about the Utah economy rather than about cooking our way through Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Okay, we’re a little late to the blogging party. Apparently, folks have been “weblogging” (can it be true?) since 1997. And, since everyone from the White House to Britney
Spears has a blog, we thought it was about time we did, too. I’m kidding.

We really started our blog because we thought it would be useful to you—our customer. So, what kind of information might you find at our blog?Economic Events. Our blog tracks events that affect the Utah economy—layoffs, new hires, new construction projects, company expansions, training grants etc.

Economic Information. Foreclosures, national park visits, unemployment rates, job growth, home permits, sales, demographics, wages and more—as the information becomes available, we’ll post it. We’ll also alert you to the release of government data for Utah and its various counties—and provide you with the appropriate links.

New DWS Publications. As we release new labor market information publications, we’ll be blogging about it. You’ll also be able to find tidbits from various articles to whet your interest in our various newsletters, magazines, and economic products.

Musings. Now remember, we’re a public agency and our goal is to be objective. In other words, we work hard to put aside our political opinions. However, the economists who post to our blog at times may point out the appropriate way to use data or elaborate on what it really means. Disraeli didn’t say there are “lies, damned lies, and statistics” for no reason. Data is frequently abused or misinterpreted. We hope some of our blog posting will clarify the economic data that’s out in, well, the blogosphere.

Regions and Topics

Those of us who live in counties outside the Wastach Front often feel neglected. However, our blog allows you to track events by region. Just interested in the southwestern part of the state? You can click on the Southwest region “tag.” Or are you just curious about what’s happening in tourism? Click on the tourism tag. Want to follow a particular economist’s posts? Select their tag. You can customize the
information you want to see.

Comments

And, yes, we welcome your comments on our blog. We’d love you to suggest topics, comment on our musings, discuss Utah’s economy, question us, etc. However, we will monitor comments to assure that they are appropriate for a government-sponsored blog. (We want to make sure our grandmothers wouldn’t be embarrassed to read them—not in censoring dissenting comments.)

What is it?

Hopefully, you’re all dying to check out our blog. So, I'll just finish with the link:  http://economyutah.blogspot.com