With very little room to drop further, Utah’s unemployment rate stayed unchanged in June at 3.2 percent.
Economists generally consider a rate below 4 percent as “virtual” or “effective” full employment — a condition when anyone willing and able to work at prevailing wage rates can find a job. The current jobless rate in the state means about 59,450 people are not in the workforce, according to data released by the Utah Department of Workforce Services.
Meanwhile, the national unemployment rate dropped slightly, from
4.2 percent to 4.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.DWS also reported that Utah’s nonfarm payroll employment for June was up an estimated 2.3 percent across the past 12 months, with the state’s economy adding a cumulative 39,700 jobs since June 2024. The number of employed Utahns stands at 1,779,300.
“Continued job gains and a low unemployment rate show our economy is on solid footing,” said Ben Crabb, chief economist with the Department of Workforce Services. “The broad expansion across industries reflects the resilience of the state’s economy even as metrics of labor market tightness such as the number of openings per unemployed worker trend downward.”
In the private sector, employment saw a year-over-year expansion of 2 percent — a 29,900-job increase. Eight of the 10 major private-sector industry groups posted net year-over-year job gains. The overall gains are led by education and health services (up 15,800 jobs), construction (up 6,200 jobs) and professional and business services (up 4,700 jobs). Trade, transportation and utilities (down 4,100 jobs) and other services (down 1,200 jobs) experienced year-over-year job losses.
Additional information and analysis on Utah’s employment situation, including county-by-county statistics are available at the DWS website,
jobs.utah.gov.