Clothing prices alone jumped 2.2 percent, while recreation leaped 2.1 percent and the education/communication category rose 1.6 percent, according to the Wells Fargo Wasatch Front Cost of Living Report released Thursday.

However, flat or lower costs for transportation, groceries, housing and utilities helped offset most of the overall cost of living hike from January to February.

Kelly Matthews, executive vice president and economist for Wells Fargo, noted that Utah's living expenses fared well compared to national figures. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculated that the country's overall cost of living rose 0.2 percent in February.

Matthews said overall energy prices - split between gasoline prices included in the report's transportation segment, and natural gas costs ciphered into the housing category - remained stable for Utah in February, despite crude oil prices bouncing between $57 and $67 per barrel.

While terrorist threats to overseas oil production remain a big worry, Matthews said it appears "the market has caught on . . . to the reality that in supply and demand terms, our inventories of crude [oil] in the U.S.A. now are 10 percent greater than a year ago."

Barring a major supply disruption, "I believe we have a good shot at having crude oil prices drift into the $50s through the summer months. That would give us maybe 10-15 cents reduction in gas prices," he added.

Indeed, February's sliding gasoline prices helped cut Wasatch Front transportation costs by 0.2 percent. Nationally, that category was down 0.1 percent.

Utah grocery expenses fell again in February, by 1.3 percent, as a result of lower prices for produce and meats. Grocery bills nationwide decreased 0.4 percent last month.

Rising basic cable television fees were the primary force behind recreation costs last month that went up seven times more in Utah than the 0.3 percent increase nationally. Higher basic telephone service fees along the Wasatch Front resulted in a cost increase that still was 0.8 percent below that of a year ago.

Nationally, education/communication prices for February were unchanged.

Costlier men's wear drove Utah clothing prices up more than the national average increase of 1.5 percent. Remaining Wasatch Front sectors - housing, health care, food away from home, utilities, and other goods and services - were unchanged in February.

Zions Bank economist Jeff Thredgold said all economic indicators are optimistic now, for the nation and Utah.

"The U.S. economy had slower growth in the fourth quarter, but that will be offset by 4 percent plus growth in the current quarter," he predicted. And "the Utah economy is running flat out right now, on all eight cylinders, with a 4.8 percent job growth rate."

The biggest challenge? Finding employees in a market where Utah's unemployment rate recently dipped to 3.7 percent. "It's a very tight labor market that is likely only to get tighter," Thredgold said.

bmims@sltrib.com