That means that Utah has 2.3 percent more jobs last month than in February 2007. That's down from a revised 2.6 percent job growth in the year that ended Jan. 31, and down from a peak of 5.4 percent in the year that ended June 30, 2006.

Putting those percentages into hard numbers, Utah created about 28,100 new jobs in the year that ended Feb. 29, compared with as many as 54,000 jobs in the year that ended June 30, 2006.

Job creation in Utah has been moving downward a notch each of the last several months, from revised 2.8 percent in December, 3 percent in November and 3.2 percent in October.

Utah's job growth is still positive, well above the national average of 0.6 percent and unlikely anytime soon to go below zero - which would indicate overall jobs losses statewide, state officials say. There is no doubt, however, that job growth will probably retreat further.

"The question now is, how far until it hits bottom?" said economist Mark Knold of the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

He said the slower job growth is almost entirely focused on the downturn in residential construction.

"The other industries are still doing well for the most part," he said.