Utah unemployment rate is record 2.5%

Utah's jobless rate fell to an unprecedented low last month, according to the latest data from the Department of Workforce Services.

The state's unemployment rate fell to 2.5 percent for October, down from 2.8 percent in September, the department reported. At this time last year, the jobless rate was 4.2 percent.

The new rate is "something we've never seen before here in the state of Utah," said Mark Knold, the department's senior economist.

"I went back through the records and looked. Unemployment records were kept from 1950 forward, and the lowest we've ever gotten was 3 percent in 1997," Knold said.

About 33,000 Utahns were jobless in October, compared to 54,100 in the same month a year ago, the department reported. Job growth in the state held steady at 5 percent.

The situation is one of an "almost maxed-out labor force," Knold said, with every employment sector and every county in the state reporting growth.

"As has been the case for the past 32 months, all employment sectors in Utah continue to add new jobs," Knold wrote in the department's report. "This ranges from 14,800 new jobs in construction over the past year and 11,000 in professional and business services to 1,100 new jobs in the small sector called 'other services.' Since March 2004, all of Utah's industrial sectors have been adding jobs. That is a noteworthy stretch of 2 1/2 years, and it is showing no signs of letting up."

Susan Smith, vice president/regional director for Manpower of Utah, said the staffing services industry has been hopping at a steady pace for well over a year.

"This is tight, but it's been steady-strong for a couple of years," Smith said. "This is full employment."

What it means for Utahns, Smith said, is a kind of seller's market.

"It means that the people with the right skills are working," she said. "If you want them, we've got to go find them. They're not just knocking on our door saying, 'Hello.' They're working."

The construction, manufacturing and health services professions are all looking, Smith said. But it isn't just them.

"Those are all very strong industries, but it doesn't mean that if you've got skills in finance and accounting. That's the thing — they're all very strong," she said. "It's about good skills."