Jobs surge 3.6% in Utah County

PROVO — Employment growth in Utah County has been "exceptionally strong" in the past year, according to a new economic report.

Utah County saw nearly 6,000 new nonagricultural jobs — an increase of 3.6 percent — from October 2004 to October 2005, according to a report produced for Commerce CRG, the state's largest commercial real estate firm.

Those figures didn't come as a surprise to Commerce CRG sales agent James Bullington.

"We're seeing great growth (in Utah County)," said Bullington, who specializes in commercial real estate in the firm's Orem office. "We're starting to see a lot of commercial movement. A lot of developers are out, and there's a lot of money in the market."

The monthly report from Jim Wood, director of the University of Utah's Bureau of Economic and Business Research, shows that every sector in the Utah economy has experienced an increase in employment during the one-year period, a statewide feat reached for the first time in more than five years.

During the preceding recession, health services was the only sector that continued to expand, Wood said.

"It's been a number of years since we've had all sectors growing," he said. "It's a comprehensive rebound."

The construction sector had the greatest increase, 12.6 percent, accounting for 9,700 new jobs statewide. More than 50 percent of those jobs are located in Salt Lake and Utah counties.

"Construction is really leading the charts in terms of percentage increase," Wood said. "It's really been phenomenal this past year. When you're building at record levels, that is reflected in the construction employment numbers."

The report also cites a list of 40 nonresidential construction projects proposed over the next few years across the state as an indicator that "construction activity will remain at very high levels." Those projects have a total construction value of nearly $5 billion, according to the report.

"I think it's going to be another good year for construction," Wood said. "I think nonresidential construction is really beginning to gain some momentum. There are a fair number of big projects that are going to be breaking ground, so I think the nonresidential construction sector is going to be better next year."

Three of those projects are in Utah County:

• Utah Lake System — A $460 million project to construct five pipelines and two power facilities.

• Lake Side power plant — A $300 million combined-cycle natural gas project proposed for Vineyard.

• Geneva cleanup — A $42 million project to clean up the 1,700-acre site of bankrupt Geneva Steel.

Bullington expects the completion of the Geneva cleanup project also to result in the creation of jobs.

"The Geneva cleanup is obviously going to be great," he said, "because when (the land) is cleaned up, it's going to end up being developed."

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