Tooele County has more people with jobs than it did one year ago, but those jobs pay less than they did compared to last year, according to state statistics.
December’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for Tooele County remained the same as November’s rate of 3.6 percent, the Department of Workforce Services says.
Statewide the December unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.1 percent while the national unemployment rate increased one-tenth of a percentage point from November to 4.7 percent in December.
“Utah closes the year on a positive note with strong job growth and low unemployment,” said Carrie Maybe, chief economist for DWS.
The number of jobs in Tooele County grew from 15,202 in December 2015 to 16,080 in December 2016 for a 5.8 percent increase.
Tooele County’s economy has experienced steady local job growth since April 2014 when jobs in the county dropped to 14,824.
The growth on the county’s job market in 2016 was driven largely by the private sector, according to DWS.
“The U.S. Defense Department is a significant employer in the [Tooele] county, but the private sector is the powerful job creator of the past year,” reads a DWS report.
The primary driver behind the job gains in 2016 was the warehousing sector. Business services, healthcare, and in a small turn around, the federal government, also contributed to job growth, according to the DWS.
With an unemployment rate of 3.6 percent in December, Tooele County’s workforce consisted of 29,505 employed workers with 1,100 unemployed workers actively seeking work. That’s 1,136 more people with jobs in the county in December 2016 compared to December 2015 for a 4 percent increase.
The workforce numbers include all people in the county over the age of 16 that either have a job or are actively looking for a job.
In Tooele County, 70.3 percent of the county’s population over 18 is in the workforce, slightly higher than the statewide workforce participation rate of 70 percent. Nationally, the workforce participation rate is 65.9 percent.
There were 38 less people unemployed in Tooele County during December 2016 compared to December 2015, a 3.3 percent drop.
The average monthly wage for people who work in Tooele County has declined since 2015. During the third quarter of 2016, the average Tooele County worker’s monthly wage dropped from $3,538 in 2015 to $3,320 in 2016, according to DWS. The Tooele County worker’s average monthly wage for the third quarter of 2016 was also below the $3,707 state average for the same quarter.
DWS attributes the decline in the average monthly wage to the closure of the chemical weapons stockpile destruction program.
Tooele County’s unemployment rate for December 2016 is the 15th lowest among Utah’s 29 counties. The county with the lowest December 2016 unemployment rate was Morgan County at 2.8 percent. The highest December 2016 unemployment rate was 8.7 percent in Uintah County.