This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2014, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah's job market continued its slow but steady improvement in May.
Unemployment slipped 0.2 points to 3.6 percent, leaving an estimated 52,000 Utahns out of work. The national unemployment rate is 6.3 percent.
At the same time, the state's economy supported 37,500 more jobs last month than it did in May 2013, a growth rate of 2.9 percent. While better than the national growth rate of 1.8 percent, new job creation remains below the 3.1 percent annual rise typical of Utah's economy before the Great Recession.
All 10 industry sectors that figure into the numbers released Friday by the Utah Department of Workforce Services showed year-over-year employment increases.
The trade, transportation and utilities sector added the most new jobs (9,800), followed by construction (5,400) and government (5,200).
In terms of growth, construction led the pack with a 7.3 percent increase — a strong sign that recovery is finally coming to the sector hit hardest by the crash. Information technology sector jobs also increased by 6.8 percent.
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