Parson’s problem is one that many Utah industries are facing right now. With a 3.1 percent unemployment rate, there just aren’t as many people looking for work.
A new report from the policy research organization Utah Foundation examines some of the reasons behind this labor deficit.
Analyst Christopher Collard authored the report. He says there are four big factors contributing to this problem..
“So we traced Utah’s worker shortage back to an overall tight labor market, overall low wages across various industries, job desirability factors that affect specific industries, and then kind of a general skills gap where Utah workers may not be aligned with industry’s needs,” he says.
Also, Utah’s current labor force participation is about 69 percent, about 2 percent lower than a couple decades ago.
