Utah's economy may be beat up and bruised by the nation's recession, but the three major metropolitan areas along the Wasatch Front actually have performed relatively well when it comes to creating or sustaining jobs.

The Salt Lake City metro area finished third this year in the Best-Performing Cities index complied by the Milken Institute of Santa Monica, Calif., and Greenstreet Real Estate Partners of Coconut Grove, Fla., duplicating its performance in 2008.

"You have to realize that in this economy 'Best Performing' sometimes means retaining what you have," said Ross DeVol, director of regional economics at the Milkin Institute and lead author of the report.

In Salt Lake City's case, though, the area held up well compared to most of the other 200 metropolitan areas that were surveyed, DeVol said. "A lot of it has to do with the area's diverse economy and low concentration of durable goods manufacturing."

The Milken Institute has been ranking urban-area economies for a decade. The Best-Performing Cities study is based on job creation and retention, along with the quality of jobs that are produced and the area's overall economic performance.

The Provo-Orem area, which was No. 1 on the list last year, fell to 28th place this year, while Ogden-Clearfield fell from 18th in 2008 to 32nd. Yet those standings have to be looked at in context, DeVol said.

"Even though those areas [Provo and Ogden] slipped in their standings from last year they both are still high on the list and that says something about their [relative] economic performance," he said.

The Milken survey, however, isn't the only report that ranks Utah as a top state in terms of jobs.

The job-search engine Juju.com on Tuesday released its "Job Search Difficulty Rankings" that listed Salt Lake City as the fourth most attractive place to look for a job.

The ranking was based upon the ratio of unemployed people in an area according to U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics and the number of advertised jobs found in Juju.com's index of all online job postings for the major metro areas in the United States.

"When we look at the Salt Lake area we see a business friendly climate -- a low cost of doing business and a reliable work force," said Brendon Cruickshank, a vice president at Juju.com. "And that makes a place where businesses want to relocate to and set up operations."

In the Milken report, DeVol points out that although Salt Lake City hasn't escaped the national recession the technology sector remains a key driver in the area's economy with a "vibrant presence" in computer system design and related services.

"Less well-known is Salt Lake City's strength in medical equipment, a sector that employs some 5,800 workers. Within North America, Salt Lake City ranks sixth as a center for medical equipment manufacturing," he said.

"Among the leading cities [on the Milken list] you always find a couple of hidden gems that help offset the weak sectors. In Salt Lake City's case those sectors include technology and medical products manufacturing."