Provo, Ogden outpacing cities nationwide in job growth

By Jasen Lee, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Two Wasatch Front cities registered the best jobs number in the nation during the second quarter of 2011.

Provo and Ogden added jobs faster than any other major metros in the country, according to this month's edition of the Mountain Monitor produced by Brookings (Institution) Mountain West at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

Both northern Utah municipalities posted impressive quarterly job gains of 1.9 and 1.8 percent, respectively. By contrast, Colorado Springs lost nearly 1 percent of its jobs as employment levels fell to new lows.

The nation's overall job gains during the second quarter measured 0.3 percent, the report indicated.

Meanwhile, Salt Lake City was one of three Mountain West metropolitan areas that recorded employment growth of 0.2 percent — along with Boise and Phoenix. Elsewhere in the region, employment climbed 0.5 percent in Tucson and 0.4 percent in Las Vegas for a second straight quarter of job growth.

The jobs situation in Albuquerque ticked up slightly at 0.1 percent, while employment in Denver declined slightly.

"Employment gains in Provo were driven by education and healthcare, manufacturing and trade, transportation and utilities," said Kenan Fikri, senior research assistant and co-author of the report. "Outside of these sectors employment remained stable, so those modest gains were pure wins."

He attributed the second quarter employment gains in Ogden to expansion in manufacturing as well as leisure and hospitality industries.

In Salt Lake City, gradual increases in employment across the board have accumulated to produce a respectable jobs recovery, although employment still remains 4.4 percent below peak, he added.

The report described the overall jobs picture in Ogden, Colorado Springs and Salt Lake City as "comparatively bright," with Utah and Colorado metros standing closest to recouping jobs lost during the recession. The trio of Utah cities in the report all registered fewer jobs than at their peak employment periods before the recession — Ogden was down 3.2 percent, with Salt Lake City 4.4 percent below peak and Provo was down 4.9 percent.

"To some extent, Provo, Ogden, and Salt Lake City’s high rankings on this measure are a testament to just how dire the situation is elsewhere in the country," Fikri said. "But the fact that employment has remained stable across sectors for several quarters now means that the worst looks solidly behind Utah’s metros."