State Creates ‘Hot Jobs’ Site To Help Connect Utahns With Work
Sep 30, 2020, 6:08 PM | Updated: 9:43 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Officials with the Utah Department of Workforce Services launched a new web portal designed to help Utahns find jobs that are hiring and get back to work.
“The impact of the pandemic has left many scrambling for employment as their previous line of work seeks to recover from the pandemic. The challenge becomes real when they may not be able to return to work before their benefits run out,” said Lt. Gov. Spencer Cox. “We don’t want anyone left standing on January 1 with no benefits and no job. There are opportunities out there in multiple industries that are hiring today. We just need to connect people to these opportunities.”
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, 300,000 Utahns have applied for unemployment benefits.
Utah’s unemployment rate jumped from 2.5% in February to 10.4% in April. The state was leading the country in job growth before the pandemic and leaders said Utah has seen some of the best recoveries from the initial shock of the pandemic, with unemployment dropping to 4.1% in September.
“The key to Utah’s economic recovery is getting people employed,” said Taylor Randall, economic recovery lead for Utah’s Unified Response Team and Dean of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. “This happens by strengthening consumer confidence and connecting people to the jobs that are available. In some cases, this means taking advantage of what is available rather than waiting for previous employment to come back.”
The new portal lists top job openings in construction, finance and banking, health, manufacturing, advanced manufacturing, information technology and life sciences.
Officials said health care benefits vary by individual companies and positions listed.
Along with the new online help, the department launched the “UT Job Support media campaign” on Wednesday.
