The 54,500 jobs created in Utah over the past year represent about 5 percent of all the jobs created in the country - this from a state with fewer than 1 percent of all U.S. jobs, the Department of Workforce Services reported Tuesday.

"I believe this is the strongest economy that Utah has ever had," said Kelly Matthews, a Wells Fargo Bank economist who believes the state's contribution of jobs to the fitful U.S. economy may be "unprecedented."

Utah's growth is occurring at the same time the wider U.S. economy is struggling. On Tuesday, the Federal Reserve cut its key federal funds rate by a half percentage point, amid concerns that problems in the subprime lending market would send the economy toward recession.

"Lately, I get asked how the subprime mortgage situation will affect Utah, and the answer seems to be, not much.

"Utah didn't experience a high usage of this mortgage voodoo, so our exposure to its negativity is limited," Workforce Services economist Mark Knold said.

On Tuesday, the department reported that employment in Utah grew 4.5 percent in the year ending Aug. 31, a slight easing from 4.7 percent in July but still far better than the rest of the country.

Nationally, the number of jobs increased just 1.1 percent between August 2006 and last month.

"It just says that we are kind of a small player, but we are doing more than our share right now in terms of adding new jobs to the [U.S.] economy," said Jeff Thredgold, a consulting economist for Zions Bank.

Utah's other key measure of labor market conditions, the unemployment rate, was 2.6 percent in August, down from an already low 2.7 percent in July. The U.S. unemployment rate held steady at 4.6 percent.

"What we are seeing, and have seen over the last three months, is Utah's economy is expanding at a much faster rate than the nation," said Austin Sargent, an economist at the Department of Workforce Services.

An average of 4,500 jobs are being created in Utah each month. What's more, the growth is widespread. The department said all sectors added employment, with construction leading the way. About 12,000 construction jobs were created in the 12 months ending in August. That number has been slowly abating but is being offset by gains in other areas, including sectors that are producing high-paying positions.

"The growth of the professional and business sector is almost wholly coming from the professional side - [in other words] those jobs that require much knowledge through education and institutional experience," economist Knold said.

The robust growth in jobs, coupled with record low unemployment, suggests strongly that large numbers of people are moving to the state to find work. Thredgold said 100,000 people have probably migrated to Utah since 2005. He expects that number to grow by another 30,000 this year.

"They are providing more homes. They are helping to support the strong retail spending that we see going on and the construction of more retail space. We are kind of hitting on all cylinders."

Wells Fargo's Matthews said that in recent years Utah, Arizona and Nevada have generated new jobs at rates that have far exceeded the U.S. rate. However, in the past nine months, Utah has surged ahead as the other two states have felt the effects of the subprime crisis, which was triggered by an overabundance of loans made to the most risky borrowers.

"Clearly we are number one right now, way number one," Matthews said.

pbeebe@sltrib.com