The state added 48,500 jobs in the year that ended March 31 for a job-growth rate of 4.3 percent, the Utah Department of Workforce Services said. Utah remains one of three states - including Nevada and Arizona - that are adding jobs at the highest rate nationally.
The state won't have much data until later this year to demonstrate just how much employers are raising wages to better attract workers. But state economist Mark Knold said he has no doubt the numbers will show that employers have had to raise wages for a variety of positions in recent months.
"With such strong job growth and such low unemployment you create a tight labor market that forces many employers to have to start bidding for labor," he said. "That's when wages start to go up. It happened the last time our labor market got really tight back in the 1990s, and it's happening again."
Staffing and recruiting companies say a number of employers are raising wages in Utah to levels found in other western states - including California. Historically, jobs in a number of other states, such as California, have paid significantly more than comparable jobs in Utah.
"We're definitely seeing salaries in Utah become more competitive with other states," said Lora Lea Mock, a corporate recruiter who has worked in the staffing industry for 28 years. "And we're also seeing more employers take people right out of school and offer signing bonuses."
Mock said she is seeing more people from other states take jobs in Utah.
Even with the higher wage rates and better success in luring people from other states, Mock, who owns Professional Recruiters in Salt Lake City, said employers are "really struggling to find good people."
Where are the shortages? They are widespread, Mock said.
Companies are having a hard time finding computer programmers, some types of accountants, nurses, doctors and physical therapists - professionals who have been in demand for years now.
But employers also are seeing shortages in a number of other areas, she said, ''inÂcluding secretarial, sales representatives - you name it.''
Strong job growth throughout the state in a variety of industries drove down the unemployment rate in March to 3.4 percent, down 0.9 percent from March 2005. Approximately 44,900 Utahns were unemployed in March, compared with 54,500 in March 2005.
Jobs are being added in a variety of industries. In March, the construction industry remained strong, adding about 9,100 of the 48,500 jobs the economy in Utah generated in the past year.
Utah's residential real estate boom has created the bulk of those construction jobs, Knold said.
While nationally home sales are slowing because of higher interest rates and other factors, Utah's residential real estate market is going strong. "Even though homebuilders and buyers are sensitive to mortgage interest rates, Utah's population growth supports continued housing demand," Knold said. Plus, in most parts of Utah, homes are still affordable for a significant portion of the population.
The professional and business services sector of Utah's economy has added the most jobs in Utah in the past year - 11,400 of the 48,500 jobs added in the state since March 2005. That sector includes highly paid professionals such as lawyers, engineers, accountants, graphic designers, as well as temporary workers in a variety of industries who are affiliated with an employment agency.
John Hill, vice president of human resources at the Communications Systems West division of L3 Communications in New York, knows well how hard it is to fill a variety of professional positions.
L3, which designs and develops secure communications systems for Department of Defense, employs 2,400 people in Salt Lake City, where it is adding about one person a day to its payroll. The company has about 140 openings it is trying to fill, Hill said.
They include slots for a variety of engineers, manufacturing assembly workers and administrative workers.
Two years ago, L3 benefited when other companies laid off workers and made it easier to fill open positions. Today, there are no such layoffs.
Hill said the company is promoting itself to prospective employees at out-of-state job fairs, courting college graduates, advertising on the Internet and doing whatever it can to get the word out that it has available jobs.
The good news for workers is that the robust employment market could continue for some time, said Knold of Workforce Services.
Utah's job growth is fueled by and has fueled the state's strong population growth, which has accelerated in the past year. People moving to the state often are moving for employment. But some move without a job in hand. Whether they have a job or don't, newcomers spend money on a variety of goods and services, which in turn creates more jobs down the line, attracting more people to the state.
lesley@sltrib.com
