SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah's employment growth continues to outpace the rest of the country with large increases in workers, construction and mining, but overall growth is slowing down as businesses find it difficult to find enough workers.

In the past year about 50,400 new jobs were created in Utah, an increase of 4.4 percent, according to a state Department of Workforce Services report released Tuesday. Nationally, 1.7 million new jobs were created, a growth rate of 1.3 percent. While Utah remains one of the top five states for employment growth, that growth is gradually declining from a high of 4.8 percent in June to 4.4 percent in August.

"The tightening labor supply is apparently beginning to restrict Utah's economic expansion," said Mark Knold, senior economist for the department.

Utah's unemployment rate of 3.2 percent in August continued to be less than the national average of 4.7 percent.

In the past year, the construction industry added more jobs than any other sector in the state with 13,000 new jobs.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D6.