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Utah’s Resilient Economy Remains Strong

The Salt Lake Chamber, in partnership with the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, has released the February 2024 Roadmap to Prosperity Economic Dashboard to inform business leaders’ understanding of Utah’s economy. This tool prioritizes key data on the state’s economic outlook and actionable context for decision-makers.

“While national and state consumer sentiment saw a minor downturn, Utah’s consistent performance underscores the state’s economic stability and strength,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “With insights like the record-breaking retail sales, Utah’s trajectory towards robust economic growth in 2024 is actively underway.”

Three essential insights from the February 2024 Roadmap to Prosperity Dashboard include:

  1. Utah’s taxable retail sales reached a new high in December. Increased wages and elevated prices continued to bolster taxable retail sales in Utah, which reached $5.25 billion in December. This represents a new high, with the previous record in December 2022 at $5.15 billion. 
  2. Utah’s labor force participation rate continues to rank first nationally. Despite falling for 5 consecutive months, Utah’s labor force participation rate comes in first nationally for the 10th consecutive month. The national labor force participation rate has held relatively stable for several months. 
  3. Utah and U.S. consumer sentiment fell slightly in February. National consumer sentiment decreased 2.7% in February. Utah’s sentiment decreased by 1.3% but continues to exceed U.S. sentiment. However, the gap between U.S. and Utah sentiment has narrowed. 

The Dashboard is updated monthly, providing essential insights, tracking timely and leading measures, and sharing pertinent indicators. This provides leaders with critical and timely information to make informed decisions.  

“The latest data confirm Utah’s resilient economy remains strong, due in part to our top-ranked labor force participation rate and record taxable retail sales at the end of 2023,” said Natalie Gochnour, director of the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute. “Concerns over inflation will be top of mind for both consumers and economists in 2024 as the Federal Open Market Committee meets later this month.”
To view the Roadmap to Prosperity Dashboard, click here.