Utah jobless rate rises, but report is optimistic

SALT LAKE CITY (Deseret News) — Utah's economy is slowly improving, with more moderate job losses in February, according to an employment summary issued Thursday by the state Department of Workforce Services.

February employment numbers show that Utah's nonfarm wage and salaried job count has contracted by 2.3 percent over the past 12 months, based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers. Since February 2009, about 27,700 jobs have been lost to the state's economy, so total wage and salary employment is just under 1.17 million.

January's unemployment contraction was revised from -2.9 percent to -3-1 percent.

That state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased to 7.1 percent, which is a full percentage point higher than just one year ago.

Last month, 95,300 Utahns were considered unemployed. Nationally, unemployment stayed at 9.7 percent.

The report noted that "the employment change number is noticeably improving because of the time frame now under reference. … Last year's rough patch makes this year's modest declines look less severe."

The report added, "There is also building evidence that the job market is starting to slowly awaken, and that the employer community is beginning to again look for workers with which to expand their business output."

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