• With 4.5 percent expansion, Iron County’s nonfarm jobs increased by 750 positions between December 2014 and December 2015.
• While most industries added employment, retail trade, leisure/hospitality services and manufacturing dominated the figures with each industry creating 100-plus new jobs.
• Other notable job-gaining industries included construction, professional business services, private education/health/social services and government.
• Among the major industrial sectors, only mining showed a slight decline.
• Joblessness followed its recent trend hovering near the full-employment-level of 4 percent.
• In March 2016, Iron County’s unemployment rate measured 4.2 percent, just slightly lower than the year-ago figure, but slightly higher than the statewide average of 3.5 percent.
• In the first few months of 2016, first time claims for unemployment insurance kept to a regular seasonal pattern suggesting no cyclical issues.
• Construction, retail trade and professional/business services (all with a seasonal/temporary component) have generated the largest number of new claims so far this year.
• Iron County’s average monthly nonfarm wage continues to trend slowly upward. The year-over gain for fourth quarter 2015 measured almost 6 percent.
• In 2015, construction permitting values more than doubled the 2014 figures.
• While solar-project permitting boosted nonresidential totals, Iron County’s new home permits reached their highest level since the beginning of the recession (up 26 percent in 2015).
• Expansion in fourth-quarter gross taxable sales proved particularly strong with a year-over gain of 17 percent.
• While a prior-period adjustment was responsible for part of this increase, retail trade and food services sales increased nicely with a particularly strong showing by motor vehicle dealers.
• In addition, gains in business investment expenditures by utilities and construction also added to the overall improvement.
