Job growth jumped higher in Utah last month, but the unemployment rate also inched up, according to figures released Tuesday by the state Department of Workforce Services.
The department said the year-over change in the number of nonfarm wage and salaried jobs hit 3.3 percent in January, compared to December's 2.8 percent rate.
The unemployment rate, meanwhile, rose to 4.6 percent last month, up from a revised 4.5 percent in December 2004 but down from 5.7 percent in January 2004. That means approximately 54,500 Utahns were unemployed last month, compared to 68,100 in January 2004.
Mark Knold, senior economist for the department, said the increase in the job-growth rate may be due to a pause in the run-up of energy prices that affected the economy toward the end of last year.
"Winter came on, and it didn't turn out to be that bad," Knold told the Deseret Morning News. "So now companies are pulling the trigger on hiring. They're saying, 'Let's make this announcement. Let's build this building.' To me, that's kind of what it's all about."
In the department's statement, Knold said every industrial sector in the state is doing well right now, from construction to manufacturing.
"(Manufacturing) has added over 4,000 new jobs over the past year," he said in the prepared statement. "That's a nice turnaround considering that industry has had a rough ride across the previous five years. All of this spells a good start to the new year."
Since January 2004, the U.S. economy has added 2.2 million new jobs, for a growth rate of 1.7 percent. During that same period, Utah has added about 35,500 new jobs for its 3.3 percent growth rate.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Labor Department reported that America's payrolls grew by 146,000 in January, while the national unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent.
Knold said he thinks Utah can sustain a job-growth rate around 3 percent this year.
"I think barring that energy stuff coming back to life maybe in the summer, there's no reason to see the economy being strongly reversed in the other direction," he told the Morning News.
"And that energy stuff could have an effect on a national scale, but not necessarily one here. In the past, we have had some energy-induced national recessions, and we've ridden right over them."
Utah's trade, transportation and utilities sector has seen the biggest increase in new jobs in the last year, at 6,200, the department said. More than half of those jobs are in the retail trade sector, but the trucking industry also expanded, adding more than 700 new jobs.
The professional and business services sector has added 5,100 new jobs during the past year, while construction added 5,000. The leisure and hospitality sector saw growth of 4,700 jobs, and education and health services added 4,500.
Knold said that even if something does derail the rest of the economy, the health-care industry should see continued growth.
"It may not be the strongest industry in terms of growth as this year progresses . . . but it's the one least vulnerable to any downturn," he said. "It's the most durable."
And while the state's overall numbers do not indicate everyone is having an easier time finding employment, Knold said, most people are seeing a more active hiring market.
"You have people in different social levels, and people at the lowest levels . . . don't see the improvements as quickly as the levels above them do," he said. "The levels above them have the training and get rehired and see the quickest turnaround in their economic fortunes. . . .
"You need a much longer period of a much stronger economy before you get the more economic-challenged parts of our labor force to feel some sort of an upward benefit and upward climb. But that's a small percentage of our overall labor force."
E-mail: gkratz@desnews.com