Utah's job growth was the fifth-best in the nation from June 2010 to June 2011, according to an Arizona State University report.

And there are diverse reasons for that relatively strong showing, said Lee McPheters, director of the JPMorgan Chase Economic Outlook Center at the university's W.P. Carey School of Business.

His center addresses employment issues at its Job Growth USA website, http://wpcarey.asu.edu/bluechip/jobgrowth.

"Your state is growing in a diversified sort of way," McPheters said, citing Utah's top-10 rankings in job production in four of 11 industrial sectors monitored by economists.

"A lot of states would be envious of being in that situation right now."

The report said Utah's economy created 23,500 jobs in the year leading up to June 2011, a 1.98 percent increase that was double the national average.

Two sectors of the state's economy ranked fourth in the country — professional and business services, in which Utah added 7,800 jobs year over year, and "other services," which McPheters described as a nebulous category built around companies that provide personal services such as dry cleaning.

"Use of those services is usually associated with stronger economic growth," he said, adding that growth in professional and business services involves jobs "that everybody else would like to have."

Utah also ranked fifth nationally in the number of new retail jobs the economy supported. The state Department of Workforce Services' employment summary for June put that increase at 3,400 jobs.

McPheters said the Beehive State was ninth in adding transportation and warehouse jobs.

It also had done well in manufacturing and the relatively small natural resources sector, fueled by more gas exploration in Uinta Basin.

Utah's numbers also look better because the state has avoided large layoffs of government employees.

"Every state in the nation has lost government jobs, but Utah has not lost that many," McPheters said, comparing Utah's year-over-year decline of 1,600 to Arizona's 14,000.

The report's findings don't surprise Jeff Edwards, president of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah, a nonprofit that works with governments to attract businesses to the state and help existing companies expand.

"Something we hear pretty regularly is Utah has a supportive business environment," he said, both in terms of government cooperation and stable political and financial structures.

"With state governments all over the country in serious straits, Utah is seen as an island of stability," Edwards said. "Not that there aren't tough times, but we have a balanced state budget and solvent communities. Businesses looking to invest pay close attention to that."

Most of all, he added, companies appreciate Utah's comparatively young, educated workforce.

That was a key attribute in IM Flash Technologies' recent decision to expand in Utah County rather than to grow the business in Asia, Edwards said.

mikeg@sltrib.comTwitter: @sltribmikeg —

Top performers

The states that added the most new jobs from June 2010 to June 2011:

1. North Dakota + 4.82%

2. Wyoming + 2.36%

3. Vermont + 2.26%

4. Texas + 2.17%

5. Utah + 1.98%

6. Massachusetts + 1.94%

7. Nebraska + 1.89%

8. Montana + 1.86%

9. Michigan + 1.81%

10. Oklahoma + 1.77%

Source: Arizona State University