Utah’s October unemployment rate is the lowest ever recorded

Labor shortages are top of mind as Park City prepares for a busy winter season. Photo: TownLift

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Department of Workforce Services (DWS) reported on Friday that October’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate is 2.2%, the lowest unemployment rate ever recorded in Utah.

That’s a drop from September’s rate of 2.4%.

The national unemployment rate in October came in at 4.6%.

“The labor market in Utah continues to get tighter and tighter,” said Mark Knold, chief economist at the Department of Workforce Services.

“As people continue to fill jobs, the pool of idle, available labor keeps shrinking. At 2.2%, October’s unemployment rate is Utah’s lowest unemployment rate ever recorded. It is the outcome of an economy largely moving along at the forceful pace it did before the pandemic with a labor force that does not desire to be engaged at the same levels as before the pandemic. This makes for fewer available workers.”

DWS said that roughly 37,400 Utahns are unemployed. The state has added a cumulative 58,500 jobs since pre-pandemic October 2019.

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