Utah jobless rate at 7.5% for September

SALT LAKE CITY — The state's salaried job count for September expanded by 0.8 percent compared to September 2009, while Utah's other primary indicator of current labor market conditions — the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate — registered 7.5 percent, which was also up 0.8 percent over last September.

According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services, the total number of people working in wage and salary positions measured 1,196,300 statewide. Approximately 101,000 Utahns are considered unemployed, a news release said.

Nationally, the United States unemployment rate remained unchanged at 9.6 percent.

A significant number of jobs were shed during the recession in Utah, with the low point reached in early 2010, senior DWS economist Mark Knold said. The Utah economy is now recovering, but the movement upward has been slow, and there is much ground to regain, he said.

Knold said that most industries are now past the job-loss phase and starting to show some form of recovery.

Only the construction, manufacturing, trade/transportation and government sectors continued with employment losses over the past 12 months, he said.

"The remaining seven industry sectors are in some form of employment rebound," he said.

Financial activities have stabilized since the major meltdown that triggered the recession, the release stated.

"Around 1,200 new jobs have been added over the past year (in the financial industry,)" Knold said. "The professional and business services sector (also) added a healthy 4,800 new jobs over the past year."

Much of the job growth was in employment services — or temporary help, he said.

"The early stages of an economic recovery nearly always produce job gains in this area, as many businesses will first use temporary workers to fill their increase in business," Knold said.

e-mail: jlee@desnews.com