SALT LAKE CITY (April 21, 2023) — Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for March 2023 increased an estimated 2.7% across the past 12 months, with the state’s economy adding a cumulative 44,100 jobs since March 2022. Utah’s current job count stands at 1,705,400.
March’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate is estimated at 2.4%. Approximately 41,700 Utahns are unemployed. Utah’s February unemployment rate is unrevised at 2.4%. The March national unemployment rate moved down one notch to 3.5%.
“The Utah labor market continues to show strength through the first three months of 2023,” said Department of Workforce Services’ Chief Economist Mark Knold. “Layoffs remain low, and finding adequate labor to fill open jobs remains a challenge. But even in the face of this challenge labor is being found, as the economy has added 44,100 new jobs over the past year. The rate of job openings is down from the COVID-era peak of a year ago, yet they still remain higher than anything seen before the pandemic. Available jobs are still plentiful.”
Utah’s March private sector employment recorded a year-over-year expansion of 2.7%, or a 37,400 job increase. Nine of ten major private-sector industry groups posted net year-over-year job gains, led by education and health services (10,300 jobs); leisure and hospitality services (7,500 jobs); government (6,700 jobs); and construction (5,900 jobs). The only sector with an over-the-year employment contraction is financial activities (-2,400 jobs).
Largest private sector gains in the past year:
Education and health services: 10,300 jobs
Leisure and hospitality services: 7,500 jobs
Construction: 5,900 jobs
Professional/business services: 5,600 jobs
Largest private sector losses in the past year:
Statistics generated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C., modeled from monthly employer (employment) and household (unemployment) surveys.
