For the second straight month, Utah County’s unemployment rate was among the state’s lowest at 2.3% in June. Utah County’s unemployment has stayed between 2.2% and 2.4% since October 2022. The statewide unemployment rate, meanwhile, climbed slightly to 2.4% in June.

“A consistently low unemployment rate, like what we’ve seen in both the state and Utah County, is an indication of the tight labor markets we’ve been experiencing,” said Jared Mendenhall, Department of Workforce Services spokesperson. “Tight labor markets mean that the average person should have a fairly easy time finding a job. … When employers have a hard time finding workers, as is the case in a tight labor market, they have to increase wages to attract potential employees.”

According to Mendenhall, Utah as a whole had 2.7 jobs per unemployed person in April. At the time, the state’s unemployment rate was 2.6%.

The nonfarm employment in Utah County is estimated to be 301,450, an estimated 4,000-job decrease from May and almost 7,500 fewer than in April. Utah County employment is second to only Salt Lake County (estimated at over 802,000 jobs), with the next closest county having half as many jobs (142,177 in Davis County).

The county’s unemployment has climbed steadily since hitting a low of 1.7% in March 2022, the lowest ever recorded in the valley by DWS. As the year moves forward, there is a possibility of an economic slowdown as the U.S. Federal Reserve raises interest rates in an effort to keep growth steady.

“Utah County’s economy is quite diverse, which leaves it well positioned to weather a potential economic slowdown,” Mendenhall said.

According to the state data, the Provo-Orem metropolitan area — Utah and Juab counties — saw the largest job increase over the last month in the leisure and hospitality industry, approximately 1,300 more people employed than in May.

“A high demand for labor, evidenced by low unemployment rates, will put upward pressure on wages, particularly in those industries that are having a hard time filling their open positions,” Mendenhall said. “Employers in the leisure and hospitality sector struggled to replace the workers that were let go during the COVID pandemic. We’ve seen wages increase in that industry.”

Other industries showing employment increases are natural resources/mining with approximately 800 jobs and “other services” with 200 jobs.

Decreases, though, were seen across the region in local government (approximately 3,800 jobs), state government (300), wholesale trade (300), education and health services (300) and manufacturing (200).

Despite a steep decline in government employment according to the month-by-month data, more jobs were seen in both industries in June 2023 than June 2022.

Mendenhall added that it would not be surprising to see unemployment rates tick up slowly as demand drops, but “retirements of those in the baby boom generation will limit how much labor markets will loosen.”

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