Agricultural Employment

Users often wonder why most of the employment data published by the Utah Department of Workforce Services includes only “nonfarm” jobs. After all, agriculture plays a significant part in the economy, particularly in rural areas. Because this employment data is the byproduct of reporting required by unemployment insurance laws and many agricultural jobs are not “covered” by those laws, a full count of agricultural employment is not available on a regular basis. However, both the American Community Survey and the Agricultural Census provide additional information on workers in the agricultural sector.

For a complete discussion of the differences in agricultural employment counts, see this blog post. (http://utaheconomysouthwest.blogspot.com/2015/11/in-search-of-agricultural-employment.html)