Unemployment in Utah dipped to 4.7 percent last month, the state’s lowest rate since November 2008. Utah also added more jobs, prompting Governor Gary Herbert to declare the recession over in the state.
Utah’s job growth in April was 3.5 percent, more than double the national average. Over one year, 43,000 jobs have been added. Juliette Tennert is Chief Economist in the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.
“We have now more jobs than we ever have had before,” Tennert says. “So we have more jobs than pre-recession levels at this point. Our employment growth rate is second only to North Dakota, where there is a major oil boom going on. So the fact that we have this great growth in jobs - and that the growth is broad-based - really says something about the momentum in our economy.”
Tennert says companies continue to move or expand in Utah, which perpetuates growth in jobs. Over the last year, the largest job gain was in the trade, transportation, and utilities sector. The only sectors which did not show growth in Utah were government, natural resources and mining.
