Current Economic Conditions
If you were to speak to someone in Utah about the current Utah Economic conditions they would probably have several complaints about how bad things are. In almost every aspect… they are right. However, if you compare our economy to the rest of the country, we are doing much better. According to the Utah Department of Workforce Services, the Unemployment rate across the country is 9.4% and Utah is at 5.4%.
A year and a half ago, several economists called Utah a Recession Proof economy because of the diversity of our states revenue sources. However, a year and a half ago, economists didn’t anticipate how bad things would get.
Where are we now?
Utah CEO Magazine reported the following statistics:
- As of June 18, 2009, the average interest rate for a 15-year fixed-rate mortgage as of June 18, 2009. The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage is 5.38%.
- Gasoline prices in the western U.S. were down 37.8% from May 2008-2009.
- An average of 88 residential building permits per month were pulled in Washington County from March’09-May’09. Salt Lake county only averaged 287, and has nearly seven times the population of Washington County.
- An average of 16 commercial permits were pulled per month in Washington County. Salt Lake County was around 60 commercial permits per month.
The filing for Bankruptcy increased 59% in Utah this year over last.
The number of non-agricultural jobs lost from April 2008 to April 2009 was 39,800 in the state of Utah.
Although these numbers are astounding, our local economies are doing substantially better than national averages.
