April 19, 2024 - Utah's Employment Summary: March 2024

SALT LAKE CITY (April 19, 2024) - Utah's nonfarm payroll employment for March 2024 increased an estimated 2.1% across the past 12 months, with the state's economy adding a cumulative 35,600 jobs since March 2023. Utah's current job count stands at 1,739,500.

March's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is estimated at 2.8%. Approximately 50,600 Utahns are unemployed. Utah's February unemployment rate is unrevised at 2.8%. The March national unemployment rate lowered one-tenth of a percentage point to 3.8%.

"Statewide job growth has remained centered in the 2% range for much of the last year," said Ben Crabb, chief economist at the Department of Workforce Services. "This is a bit slower than the state's long-run average, but it is still impressive after nearly three years of unemployment rates below 3% constraining the labor supply. Utah's continued jobs expansion has been supported by high rates of labor force participation and continued in-migration to the state, but recent data indicates slowing. As a result, Utah's job growth is tracking more closely with the national rate."

Utah's March private sector employment recorded a year-over-year expansion of 1.6%, or a 22,900-job increase. Eight of the ten major private-sector industry groups posted net year-over-year job gains. The overall gains are led by education and health services (11,800 jobs), construction (6,600 jobs), manufacturing (1,400 jobs), and leisure and hospitality (1,300 jobs). Financial activities (-1,300 jobs) and information (-100 jobs) were the only sectors with year-over-year job losses.

• Additional analysis and tables at https://jobs.utah.gov/wi/ update/index.html
• County unemployment rates for March will post on or shortly after April 22, 2024, at https://jobs.utah.gov/wi/ update/une/season.pdf
• April's employment information will be released at 7 a.m. on Friday, May 17, 2024.
• Statistics generated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Washington, D.C., modeled from monthly employer (employment) and household (unemployment) surveys.

Listen to our new Chief Economist Ben Crabb's analysis of the March 2024 employment report here: https://soundcloud.com/ utahdws/utah-employment- report-march-2024

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