The Utah Department of Workforce Services said overall employment in the state crept up by only 0.3 percent in August over the same month last year. The lowest monthly employment growth rate since August 2003 translates into a gain of 3,260 new jobs over the past year, down substantially from a peak gain of 5.4 percent and 54,000 jobs in the year that ended June 2006. But against the backdrop of that sobering news, the monthly inflation report offered some relief as the slow decline in gasoline prices in Utah provided help to those squeezed by higher prices for food, rents, utilities and health care.
In fact, falling fuel costs meant that the consumer price index for the Wasatch Front rose only 0.1 percent from July to August, Wells Fargo & Co. reported Tuesday. That compares with an almost-unheard-of 1.1 percent increase from June to July. Nationally, consumer prices fell 0.1 percent last month after two months of large increases.
Just last month, Utahns were paying the third-highest gas prices in the country, significantly above the national average. On Tuesday, the average cost of a gallon of unleaded gasoline in the state was $3.78, down from $4.05 one month ago and a peak of $4.22 July 18, according to travel-services company AAA Utah. The national average is $3.85, with Utah now ranking in the middle among all states in terms of gasoline prices.
Utah motorists such as Mike Sorensen of Midvale have seen some sizable drops in just the past few days.
Sorensen said he paid $3.73 for regular unleaded three days ago, while the same station on Tuesday was charging $3.67.
But Sorensen, like a number of consumers, isn't cheering just yet. "I think pretty soon it's going to go right back up to $4 per gallon," he said gloomily.
Economist Kelly Matthews of Wells Fargo & Co. says pump prices could continue their slide if oil prices continue to fall from their peak of around $140 a barrel to around $91 a barrel on Tuesday.
Nationally and locally, food prices have yet to fall, but Matthews thinks grocery prices should ease as gasoline prices - and subsequently transportation costs - decrease.
"The big break for consumers now is in gasoline," he said. "Lower gasoline prices don't solve all our problems, but combined with lower mortgage rates, it's really good news."
The lingering question in the reports out Tuesday is how well Utah's economy will fare in coming months, and whether Utah's job growth and inflation will worsen.
Although a number of industry sectors continue to add jobs, they are doing so at a lesser rate than when the state's and nation's economies were booming. And the state's construction industry - along with related sectors such as finance - continue to shed jobs. The manufacturing sector isn't going so great, either, furthering an overall trend toward fewer manufacturing jobs nationally.
One bright spot is that commercial construction activity - thanks to such projects as the new skyscraper taking shape at 222 S. Main and the LDS Church's City Creek Center project - is helping make up for some of the loss in home-building activity. And when it comes to creating jobs Utah is doing better than the nation as a whole, which saw growth of negative 0.3 percent for August in contrast with Utah's positive 0.3 percent.
And Utah's unemployment rate, though up, was 3.7 percent in August, compared with the national rate of 6.1 percent.
Although Utah's employment outlook will continue to weaken, economist Mark Knold of the state's Workforce Services department said he isn't predicting widespread job losses similar to those that have hit other parts of the country.
"I believe our unemployment rate will remain below the national average. In Utah, I think the rest of the industries aside from construction, finance and manufacturing are going to stay pretty healthy."
lesley@sltrib.com
