This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
This looks to be a year in which employers make a bit more money, give out a little more in paychecks to slightly larger staffs and continue trying to make their operations as efficient as possible.
That "cautiously optimistic" assessment of 2011's economic prospects came from a survey by The Employers Council of Utah, which provides human-resource management assistance to about 550 companies in the Beehive State. Its findings were part of a larger report issued by the Employer Associations of America after surveying 2,800 organizations around the country.
"A majority of Utah employers feel the overall economy is about the same as it was in mid-2010," said Monica Whalen, president and CEO of The Employers Council of Utah.
"They anticipate an increase in sales/revenue, to provide pay increases for staff and maintain 401(k) matching contributions," she added, "but they will be looking at process improvement initiatives to cut costs."
Her council received responses from 236 Utah companies, representing a cross-section of industries. One-third had fewer than 99 employees, 63 percent had under 250. But almost 12 percent had 1,500 employees or more.
About 43 percent are in the manufacturing sector, often considered a bellwether of economic trends.
Hard hit by the recession, Utah's manufacturing sector steadily crawled back in 2010. The industry actually employed 500 more people last month than a year earlier, although the overall number of jobs is still almost 18,000 below the November 2007 peak.
Survey responses reflected that bounceback.
Although 63 percent felt the overall economy was the same as in mid-2010, almost 32 percent saw improvement. Consequently, 45 percent of respondents said they expect to hire more people this year, particularly in the second quarter, as opposed to just 6 percent looking to cut staff.
That's quite a contrast from just two years ago, said Kimberly Barton, an HR adviser for The Employers Council.
"We were getting calls all the time from employers saying, 'Can you help me with a reduction in force?' We actually created a toolkit to help our members know what things they had to consider when sending out notices," she said. "We still get those calls, but not in the volumes that they were."
More than 55 percent of companies plan to boost their employees' pay this year, although 24 percent will not commit until they see more economic improvement.
Although 69 percent said they did not freeze company contributions to 401(k) plans, 13 percent of those who did said they will restore all or part of that benefit this year.
And more than one-third plan no cost-cutting measures this year, prompting Whalen to observe that "it's not clear if this is a barometer of employers' optimism or if it is an indicator of how lean companies are operating after past cost-cutting measures."
Workers still have some reasons to worry.
Almost one-quarter of respondents intend to shift a larger percentage of health care costs to employees, while 13 percent will maintain a hiring freeze and 6 percent expect to reduce work hours.
Mark Knold, the Utah Department of Workforce Services' chief economist, suspects responding companies may end up being more aggressive this year than when the survey was conducted, just as the Obama administration signed off on a tax package that extended Bush-era tax cuts and unemployment benefits.
"The recent Bush tax cut extension turned out to be more than analysts thought it was going to be," Knold said, citing a recent analysis by IHS Global Insights, which raised its 2011 prognosis from cautiously optimistic to optimistic.
"I see that assessment as valid," Knold said.