Utah sees slight uptick in October unemployment

SALT LAKE CITY —  The October jobs report dropped Friday morning shows a slight increase in unemployment. 

Utah’s unemployment rate ticked up one-tenth of one percentage-point last month, bringing it to 2.7% according to the Department of Workforce Services. Nationally, unemployment sits at 3.9%, according to the departments report. 

Department of Workforce Services Deputy Director Nate McDonald joined Utah’s Morning News to go over the latest numbers. 

“So this time of year, we’re not always surprised when we see unemployment jump up a little bit, because we’ve got that seasonal transition of jobs. And so that’s not shocking to see some movement there,” said McDonald.

“Our job growth is that 2.2%. And that means over the last year, we’ve added about 38,200 jobs into the market. So…it’s it’s a good report, because we’re still, 2.7% unemployment.”

McDonald noted there have been layoffs but coming out of the pandemic the job market was hot and things are beginning to cool. 

“When things start slowing down a little bit…it kind of flips, and it’s now more favorable for the employer.”

MacDonald continued, “So what that means for someone who’s just been laid off or something, it means, [they’ve] got to kind of sharpen things up a little bit. You’re going to have to work a little bit harder than before to get that next job. And so it’s just kind of a shift of balance here.”

Leisure and hospitality services saw the biggest job gain with 11,500 jobs added. 

Related: Utah’s unemployment rate remains one of the lowest nationally