The City Café

January has been full of speculation about Utah’s economy and the economy throughout the rest of the nation. There is no question that the housing market has cooled, but there are other economic indicators in Utah that still appear optimistic. In an effort to better understand the strength of Utah’s economy Doug Macdonald prepared this handout, an assessment of a number of salient economic indicators, for Monday’s LPC meeting. The factors reviewed are:

• Wages and salaries
• Unemployment claims
• Construction employment
• Residential construction value
• Nonresidential construction value
• Long/short term yield spread
• “Misery index“
• Local sales tax

Each of these indicators is reviewed with either a red, yellow, or green light (green meaning things still look positive). You can view the pdf here: utah-eco-indicators.pdf