Utah taking baby steps toward job recovery, economist says

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah has moved beyond the worst of job losses caused by the recession of late 2008 and is once again beginning to add positions, according to Utah Division of Workforce Services Chief Economist Mark Knold.

However, a federal finding of 900 new jobs in the Beehive state is probably erroneous, he said. Rather, survey results published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics mean that the number of jobs in Utah is holding steady.

"There were huge amounts of job losses last year; now we're almost back to zero," he explained. "Now, on net, we're putting jobs back into the Utah economy. Losses are being counterbalanced by growth in other sectors."

The report released Thursday shows there were about 1.2 million jobs in May.

Construction and manufacturing, finance, and leisure services are still posting losses compared to May 2009, according to the report, but the sectors are no longer hemorrhaging jobs.

The labor report, based on a survey of businesses, shows a steady number of jobs in wholesale and retail trade and transportation and trade. It does not take into account the self-employed.

The problem with this month's study comes in job numbers for the education and health care sector, which allegedly posted 9 percent growth. But according to Knold, job growth that rapid has never occurred in that sector, even in boom times.

The economist attributed the error to a fault in the model into which survey results are entered.

Corrected numbers will probably be posted this fall when a quarterly census of businesses is released.

"The pain of the recession in terms of translating into the pain of job losses is behind us," Knold said. "We're taking baby steps, but it will still be a couple of years until we get all those jobs back."

For a complete report on Utah jobs, visit jobs.utah.gov.

e-mail: rpalmer@desnews.com