Job growth in July was 1.9 percent, which means the state had 20,500 more jobs last month than it did in July 2003. Job growth in June also increased 1.9 percent from a year earlier, up markedly from 1.6 percent in May.

Job growth, however, remains well below the 6 percent recorded in Utah in 1994 when the state's economy was booming. Plus, economists had hoped last month's job growth rate would have continued to increase rather than remaining steady.

Nonetheless, two consecutive months of job growth at 1.9 percent can be viewed as encouraging, said Mark Knold, Workforce Services senior economist. Had job growth dropped below 1.9 percent in July, it would have meant that higher energy costs and the stagnant stock market had affected companies' hiring plans. "I'm still anticipating we'll have higher employment growth as the year progresses," Knold said.

With about 58,000 people in Utah out of work, the state's jobless rate in July was 4.8 percent, up slightly from 4.6 percent in June and down from 5.6 percent in July 2003, when 66,400 Utahns were out of work.

Knold said those Utahns who are finding work are getting a good mix of low-, moderate- and high-paying jobs.

Employment in professional and business services - which includes a number of higher paying jobs in industries such as law, architecture, engineering, computer systems design and programming - accounted for about 6,200 of the jobs added over the past year, up 4.7 percent from last year, Knold said.

Another industry with strong job growth is education and health care, up 3 percent to 3,400 jobs over last year.

Only the financial services sector is losing jobs, and that can be attributed to fewer employment prospects in the mortgage industry as interest rates rise, Knold said.

John B. Norman Jr. of the Utah Mortgage Lenders Association said so far, the industry in Utah is not experiencing a significant number of layoffs.

But higher interest rates certainly are having an effect on jobs in the mortgage industry, he said. Loan officers are compensated based on the number of loans they generate, he said, and while he is not predicting huge numbers will lose their jobs as interest rates continue to rise, they certainly will make less money than they did last year when interest rates hit historic lows, he said.

While last year people rushed to take advantage of low interest rates and refinance their properties, at today's slightly higher rates the stream of refinancing applications has all but dried up.

"There just aren't as many refinancings happening anymore," he said. "The market is contracting."