Utah's unemployment rate jumped to 7.1 percent last month, its highest level since February 1984.
The three-tenths of a percentage point increase since January meant 95,300 Utahns were considered unemployed in February, 11,500 more than in the same month a year earlier. The unemployment rate then was 6.1 percent, the Utah Department of Workforce Services reported Thursday.
Although the rate is as high as it's been in a quarter century, department chief economist Mark Knold said the latest monthly figures still reflect a "slow improvement in the Utah economy."
He pointed to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' figures showing that Utah's job total last month (1,169,5000) was down by 27,700, or 2.3 percent, from a year ago. That is better than January, when the rate of job contraction was 3.1 percent (revised up from the original 2.9 percent).
The 2010-to-2009 comparison of job totals appears extra favorable because it matches February's numbers against one of the recession's worst months. But, Knold insisted, "it is not just a matter of mathematics that is improving the economy.
"There is building evidence that the job market is starting to slowly awake, and that the employer community is beginning to again look for workers with which to expand their business output," he said.
While the rising tide of job losses over the past 18 months "overwhelmed" a much smaller number of job creations, "the Utah economy is starting to see a movement back toward a balance point," Knold added. He predicted balance will be achieved later this year.
Bolstering Knold's confidence is the performance of the professional and business-services industry. It added 300 jobs over the past 12 months.
"The temporary-help industry is sending more workers out into the business community," he said. "This is an important early step in an economic recovery, as businesses usually begin expansion by using temporary workers."
Recent job placements activity at Remedy Intelligent Staffing reflects Knold's perspective, said Heather Gray, co-owner of the Murray-based temporary services agency.
"We've seen a pickup in those areas, professional level and administrative support positions," she said.
Part of the recent increase involved jobs at call centers being opened by the U.S. Census Bureau to answer questions about the forms now being circulated to hundreds of millions of Americans.
"We have just placed over 100 people with the Census and we had more call center-type opportunities," Gray said, adding that she also has seen a slight upturn in demand for laborer positions.
"Although they're not long-term, they're a day here or a week there," she said. "We'll take the one-day or the one-week jobs, as well as the long-term. We like them all."
Gray's anecdotal experience is consistent with the Knold's numbers for the hard-hit construction industry.
While that sector lost 9,000 jobs from February of '09 to last month, that decline is smaller than the average monthly drop of 13,800 for the half year before that.
"The construction industry is by no means out of the woods yet, but its worst period has passed," Knold said.
He also saw improvement in the financial services sector, which was down just 1,400 jobs in February after being down 4,100 in January, and information services, where the number of lost jobs was trimmed from 900 to 600.
"The trade sector is another industry that appears to have passed its low point," Knold said, despite the loss of 5,700 jobs over the past year. "These losses are not as severe as at this time last year."
Another upside: 3,100 more education jobs last month than the previous February.
"When the economy turns sour and the job market dries up, portions of the idled labor force use that time to return to the education system and further their skills," Knold said. "This is one silver living to an economic recession."
But some sectors continue to struggle, such as utilities and transportation. Leading the way, however, is the hospitality and leisure industry. In February, it had 5,400 fewer positions than a year earlier, markedly worse than January's lost-job total of 4,500.
