If not "full speed ahead," Utah's economy in 2007 likely will push forward at least at a healthy pace, according to a report released Tuesday.

Utah's Business Conditions Index dipped slightly to 53.6 in December from November's 56.4.

"Utah's leading economic indicator, from a survey of supply managers and business leaders, points to healthy but slower growth in the months ahead," Creighton University economics professor Ernie Goss wrote in the report.

Prepared by Creighton in Omaha, Neb., the report is based on a combined survey of local supply managers and business leaders in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado.

The index ranges from zero to 100, with a figure over 50 indicating an expansionary economy over the next three to six months. It uses the same methodology as a national survey conducted by the Institute for Supply Management, a private research group that surveys purchasing and supply executives in more than 350 industrial companies nationwide.

For the three-state region, the index declined for the fifth straight month to 53.8 from November's 58.4 and October's 67.6. Colorado's index declined to 50.4 from 55.6 in November, while Wyoming's reading declined to 83.5 from 90.9 in November.

"Despite recent strength in government job reports, which are coincident or current economic indicators, leading economic indicators, such as that produced by our survey, point to slowing economic growth with lower inflationary pressures for the first half of 2007," Goss wrote.

Manufacturers in the region reported "brisk but somewhat weaker" new hiring activity compared to November, Goss found. The December employment index fell to 63.4 from November's 75.1.

About 2,700 new manufacturing jobs were added in Utah during the year-over period, the Creighton study found. Specific to the industry, technology manufacturing firms — including computer and electronic component production — reported hiring growth, while transportation equipment manufacturers "detailed softer economic conditions over the past several months," Goss said.

"Fourth quarter job growth in the region, while very healthy compared to the rest of the nation, was a full percentage point below that experienced in the first quarter of 2006," Goss wrote. "I expect regional job growth to continue to slow somewhat for the first half of 2007 as the downturn in housing and higher interest rates reduce overall growth."

The Institute for Supply Management, which typically releases its national survey of manufacturing business conditions on the same day as the Creighton survey, postponed the release of its report until today, in observance of the passing of former President Gerald R. Ford.

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E-mail: jnii@desnews.com