SALT LAKE CITY (March 22, 2024) — Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for February 2024 increased an estimated 1.9% across the past 12 months, with the state’s economy adding a cumulative 32,600 jobs since February 2023. Utah’s current job count stands at 1,735,300.

February’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is estimated at 2.8%. Approximately 51,100 Utahns are unemployed. Utah’s January unemployment rate is unrevised at 2.8%. The February national unemployment rate increased two-tenths of a percentage point to 3.9%. More...

SALT LAKE CITY (March 6, 2024) — Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for January 2024 increased an estimated 1.9% across the past 12 months, with the state’s economy adding a cumulative 32,100 jobs since January 2023. Utah’s current job count stands at 1,720,900.

January’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is estimated at 2.8%. Approximately 50,300 Utahns are unemployed. Utah’s December unemployment rate is unrevised at 2.8%. The January national unemployment rate is unchanged at 3.7%. More...

By Ben Crabb, Regional Economist

Given intended economic restrictions through monetary policy undertaken by the United States Federal Reserve (Fed), the resilience of labor markets has been a surprise to many economists throughout 2022 and 2023. In Utah, the number of jobs now is above what would have been anticipated given the deep COVID jobs disruption coupled with Fed moves to slow the economy’s post-COVID inflation flareup. The continued expansion of the labor market depends to a large degree on maintaining a high labor force participation rate. After taking a downturn in the early part of the pandemic, Utah’s labor force participation rate has rebounded and is now at its highest level since 2009. This article will explore how an oftentimes under-utilized part of the workforce — workers with disabilities — has helped fuel Utah’s increased labor force participation rate. More...