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Washington » Improvements in housing and manufacturing are driving the early stages of economic recovery amid cautionary signals on the labor front, according to a Federal Reserve survey released Wednesday.
The Fed's latest snapshot of business conditions nationwide found "many sectors" of the economy either stabilized or logged modest improvements over the past six weeks. The pickups, though, often were from "depressed" levels of activity.
In a separate report, the Labor Department found that unemployment rose in 23 states last month. While layoffs have slowed, companies remain reluctant to hire. Forty-three states reported job losses in September; only seven gained jobs.
Utah was among the 23 states with rising unemployment, although the increase was relatively small, and the Beehive State still has the country's fourth-lowest jobless rate (6.2 percent) behind North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. While Utah's unemployment rate has climbed 2.8 percent since September 2008, the year-to-year rate increase was exceeded by 31 other states.
The Labor Department report put Utah's civilian labor force at 1,365,000 in September, about 5,000 less than in August and 20,000 less than a year earlier. In that same time frame, the number of unemployed Utahns jumped from 46,700 to 84,300, the agency said.
The Federal Reserve report adds to evidence that a recovery has started from the worst
An $8,000 credit for first-time home buyers boosted the housing sector. There's been concern among private economists and some lawmakers that recent gains in housing will fizzle out when the credit ends Nov. 30, although some in Congress are considering an extension.
Factories increased production as businesses restocked depleted inventories. Part of that restocking was due to the Cash for Clunkers rebate program, which caused a brief burst in car sales but has since expired.
By contrast, the Fed said the weakest link in the recovery was commercial real estate. Conditions were described as "either weak or deteriorating" across all 12 regions surveyed. Consumer spending also remained weak, the Fed said.
Consumers, whose spending accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, are expected to stay cautious given rising job losses, stagnant incomes and hard-to-get credit.
Many analysts believe the economy started to grow again in the third quarter at a pace of at least 3 percent, and is continuing to expand now.
