Mark Knold, Utah Department of Workforce Services senior economist, reported Tuesday that 60,700 Utahns were out of work in April compared to 63,000 a year earlier.

Since April 2004, the Utah economy added approximately 38,000 new jobs for a growth rate of 3.5 percent, Knold said.

"Considering that we just came out of a recession a year to a year-and-a-half ago, the Utah economy has done pretty well," he said, noting that all industrial sectors of the state's economy added new jobs over the past 12 months.

Nationally, more than 2.2 million new jobs were added to the economy since April 2004, a 1.7 percent growth rate.

In Utah over the past year, the most new jobs - 7,300 - were developed in the professional and business services arena. The second-largest sector for job creation was trade, transportation and utilities, which added 6,900 new positions.

"We've had an excellent rebound compared to most states, but it was a long time in coming," said James Wood, director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at the University of Utah.

Since the 1950s the average annual rate of job growth in Utah was 3.5 percent, Wood said. "So we're now right around the historical average."

Utah's job-growth rate is now about twice the national average. "To sustain that, though, we're probably going to need some help from the national economy, which unfortunately still seems to be going in fits and starts," Wood added.

Utah's current economic growth can be traced in part to the state's increasing population during the recent recession, which created pent-up demand for goods and services. "Over the long run, population gains eventually override the short-term fluctuations found in the business cycle," Knold said.

The state's increasing population base will contribute to Utah's future economic growth. With the impending retirement of the so-called Baby Boom generation, the domestic labor force nationally is near a peak. Demographers indicate the young generation is not large enough to fill the void that will be created in the workforce.

Utah's young, dynamic and growing population, however, doesn't mirror the national trends. And that will serve the state well, Knold said.

Any state that has a young and indigenous population will be an economic magnet in the future. "I almost want to go so far as to say that long-term economic growth for Utah is guaranteed," he said.

steve@sltrib.com