Metro Job Market Pulse · General Market Conditions · October 2026
General Market Conditions Labor Market Report: UT NONMETROPOLITAN AREA — October 2026
Rural Utah's labor map is patchier than the state average implies.
County unemployment in nonmetro Utah ranges from 2.7% in Daggett County to 5.9% in Piute County, while statewide joblessness holds at a resilient 3.5% against 4.1% nationally.
Free archive edition. Published by WageScape as sent to subscribers; data as of October 2026.
Key indicators
- County unemployment range: 2.7%–5.9% — Daggett (low) vs Piute (high) County, Utah
- Statewide unemployment: 3.5% — vs 4.1% national rate
- Washington County job growth: +1.9% — Largest county gain, year-over-year (BLS QCEW)
- Utah County unemployment: 4.1% — August 2026, above statewide rate
Key takeaways
County-level unemployment spread is wider than the state number suggests.
Piute County's 5.9% unemployment versus Daggett County's 2.7% shows the statewide 3.5% figure masks real variation across rural Utah's micro-economies. Economic development groups pitching the nonmetro area to outside investment should lead with county-specific data over the state average.
Agricultural labor shortages are a documented, non-partisan economic constraint.
KUER reporting from mid-October ties migrant workforce shortages directly to immigration enforcement fears, a bare fact with measurable economic consequence for rural operators competing against higher-paying construction work for the same labor pool. This is a supply-side constraint worth tracking as a capacity issue.
Washington County's growth outpaces the rest of nonmetro Utah.
Washington County posted the state's largest year-over-year employment increase at 1.9%, suggesting growth in nonmetro Utah is concentrated among a few counties. Commerce leaders elsewhere in the nonmetro footprint may want to understand what is driving that outlier before assuming similar momentum applies statewide.
Official metro-level data lag means October's full picture isn't yet visible.
BLS has not yet published metro-area figures for the UT Nonmetropolitan Area for October, with release scheduled for early December; current reads rely on August-September county data. Decisions made on rural Utah's economic trajectory this month should flag that lag explicitly and treat September figures as the most recent available.
Median advertised pay by role — UT NONMETROPOLITAN AREA
| Role | 25th percentile | Median advertised pay | 75th percentile | Metro trend | National median |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retail Sales Associate | $24,960 | $33,578 | $39,520 | Stable | $33,340 |
| Retail Cashier | $24,960 | $29,557 | $31,200 | Stable | $31,268 |
| Warehouse/Fulfillment Associate | $31,721 | $37,440 | $40,783 | Stable | $38,480 |
| CDL Truck Driver | $63,055 | $84,998 | $91,177 | Significant increase | $78,872 |
| Delivery Driver | $28,203 | $31,571 | $34,746 | Moderate decline | $34,826 |
| Construction Laborer | $34,439 | $38,480 | $41,600 | Stable | $40,727 |
| Electrician | $55,917 | $71,784 | $79,040 | Significant increase | $71,835 |
| Manufacturing Production Worker/Assembler | $30,500 | $35,786 | $38,649 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Customer Service Representative | $34,000 | $38,925 | $40,808 | Stable | $39,520 |
| Food Service Worker | $27,894 | $32,290 | $36,982 | Moderate decline | $33,764 |
| Certified Nursing Assistant / Home Health Aide | $33,325 | $38,617 | $43,576 | Stable | $41,600 |
| Administrative Assistant/Office Clerk | $29,759 | $39,445 | $45,546 | Stable | $44,552 |
| HVAC Technician | $60,774 | $64,987 | $72,800 | Moderate increase | $71,406 |
| Registered Nurse | $78,851 | $92,050 | $99,972 | Moderate increase | $102,252 |
| Software Engineer | $119,800 | $154,025 | $171,602 | Stable | $154,403 |
| Data Engineer | $99,195 | $145,289 | $159,248 | Moderate increase | $138,000 |
| Accountant | $58,644 | $69,321 | $77,164 | Moderate increase | $72,000 |
| Financial Analyst | $72,392 | $92,500 | $101,712 | Stable | $94,646 |
| HR Generalist/Manager | $49,948 | $82,085 | $88,400 | Significant increase | $74,477 |
| Marketing Specialist | $43,363 | $56,742 | $69,702 | Stable | $62,916 |
| Operations Manager * | $70,538 | $81,400 | $94,948 | Moderate decline | $86,294 |
| Elementary/Secondary School Teacher | $49,507 | $61,261 | $64,922 | Moderate increase | $55,908 |
| Account Manager | $63,392 | $96,600 | $117,848 | Significant increase | $94,009 |
| Warehouse Manager * | $43,753 | $67,376 | $69,421 | Significant increase | $75,000 |
| Business Analyst | $83,016 | $98,267 | $110,799 | Moderate increase | $98,302 |
* State-level figure shown where metro postings were too few.
WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings (reported as the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay). Download: CSV · JSON
Industry snapshot
| Sector | Median advertised pay | Pay trend | Postings trend |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | $87,746 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Manufacturing | $111,354 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Retail Trade | $60,194 | Significant decline | Significant decline |
| Transportation, Warehousing & Utilities | $69,847 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
| Information | $127,000 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Financial Activities | $104,753 | Stable | Significant decline |
| Professional & Business Services | $93,600 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Education & Health Services | $69,097 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
| Leisure & Hospitality | $37,440 | Moderate increase | Significant decline |
| Government | $64,510 | Significant increase | Significant decline |
Local market conditions
Rural Utah's labor market reflects the state's broader resilience, with unemployment in nonmetropolitan counties ranging from a low 2.7% in Daggett County to 5.9% in Piute County, against a 3.5% statewide rate that continues to outperform the 4.1% national figure. Agricultural operators report acute labor shortages tied partly to immigration enforcement concerns affecting migrant workforce availability, while construction and government/healthcare anchors in rural counties provide more stable employment bases than the resource-dependent sectors (oil and gas, coal, mining) that historically defined these local economies.
What it means
Wide dispersion in county-level unemployment across the nonmetro area signals an economy stitched together from distinct micro-markets, so commerce leaders evaluating expansion or investment should weigh county-specific conditions over statewide averages. Labor shortages tied to immigration enforcement are a bare economic fact affecting agricultural and related sectors regardless of policy stance, and that constraint may ripple into adjacent industries competing for the same workforce, including construction and food processing. Current conditions suggest local economic development bodies track county-by-county labor availability data as part of any site-selection or investment-promotion materials, giving that detail more weight than statewide figures alone.
Looking ahead
Data release ahead: BLS metro-level unemployment data for October is scheduled for December 2, closing the current data gap. Commerce leaders citing current nonmetro conditions publicly should caveat that the most recent official figures are from September.
Emerging pressure point: Agricultural labor shortages tied to immigration enforcement may deepen into winter harvest and processing cycles. Watch whether labor constraints spill into adjacent sectors like food processing and transportation that draw from the same rural labor pool.
Worth watching: Washington County's outsized 1.9% employment growth warrants a closer look at what sectors are driving it — tourism, retirement migration, or construction — since replicable drivers could inform promotion strategy for comparable nonmetro counties.
Early indicator: Construction wage growth statewide is projected to exceed 5%, and CDL Truck Driver pay in this metro is already up significantly at $84,998. Rural counties with active construction or logistics corridors may see competitive pressure on adjacent hourly roles as that wage growth spreads.
Sources
- Utah Department of Workforce Services — Piute County 5.9% unemployment, Daggett County 2.7%, rural Utah county range
- KUER — Rural Utah agricultural labor shortages tied to immigration enforcement concerns
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Washington County largest year-over-year county employment increase at 1.9%
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — Utah statewide unemployment rate 3.5% vs national 4.1%
- Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) — Utah County unemployment reached 4.1% in August 2026
- Bureau of Labor Statistics — October metro-level BLS data scheduled for release December 2, 2026
Methodology
Advertised pay from active employer job postings, not survey data. WageScape's median is calibrated to correct for spurious low-value postings: distribution analysis shows roughly the lowest 10% of raw values are erroneous entries, so the reported median is the 60th percentile of raw advertised pay. WageScape observes 98% of U.S. job openings daily.
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