The real estate blog.

Not that Jobs, work jobs. You know, the kind that pay you money.

All kidding aside, I had the opportunity to read some local market research put together by a major land developer in the Salt Lake Valley. Their research showed the demand for workers in SLC will not only continue to support real estate, it will attract people from other states…I’m looking at you California…where house prices are much higher.

In many instances people have come to Utah with their equity windfall after selling their home without even having a job to come to. I found all this pretty interesting. Though much of their data came from late 2006, the report I was reading had been compiled in late April, 2007.

This afternoon, an article appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune that continues

to confirm the developer data. Jobs and financial opportunity are driving immigration to Utah, which will continue to place upward pressure on house prices.

Utah continues to lead the country in job creation, with employment growth of 4.5 percent for the year that ended in May, the Utah Department of Workforce Services said Tuesday. The state has been creating jobs at a high rate, well above the national average of 1.4 percent, since January.

In all, about 54,000 jobs have been created in the Utah economy in the past year, raising total employment in Utah to 1.25 million. That’s an average of 4,500 new jobs in the state per month.

Creative recruiting, raising wages and searching out of state are the keys for employers to keep up with work demands.

So when will Utah’s hot job market cool down?

Last year, economists had predicted it would slow by now.

Today? “It seems like we’ll keep rolling along at this level through the end of the year,” said Mark Knold, chief economist for the Department of Workforce Services. “It could be two years down the road before we see any noticeable slowdown.”

The high rate of new jobs is creating headaches for employers, many of whom are struggling not only to recruit but to retain workers. For workers, the tight labor market means higher wages and more job security.

Knold said he had thought such low unemployment would eventually slow job growth because employers couldn’t fill positions.

But they are still able to find workers, which leads Knold to believe that many new hires are from out of state, especially from areas plagued by high unemployment.

Aside from recruiting out of state, companies are offering creative incentives to get the workers they need.

The time line for continued opportunity in Utah real estate has been pegged at several years from now. With our local economy rolling along as it is, this several year projection seems to be likely to hold up.