For most counties, the share of jobless workers has decreased over the past year. In fact, Uintah, Duchesne, Morgan, and Beaver counties all displayed unemployment rates at least one percentage point lower than the comparable year-ago figure. On the other hand, three counties--Wayne, Garfield, and Emery-- displayed an increase of one percentage point or greater.
Compared to the previous month, most counties September 2011 unemployment rates either held steady or decreased slightly. Only three counties experienced notable month-to-month gains--San Juan, Garfield and Wayne counties. Keep in mind that small changes in the number of estimated unemployed workers in less-populated counties can result significant swings in the actual unemployment rates.
Currently, nine Utah counties exhibit unemployment rates at or above the national average (9.1 percent). The three counties with the highest unemployment rates-Wayne, Garfield, and San Juan--have also experienced a recent uptick in joblessness.
On the other end of the scale, Cache, Uintah, Morgan, Millard, and Duchesne counties all registered unemployment rates of less than 6.0 percent.
For the complete set of recently released unemployment rate estimates for Utah's counties, click here.
