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Show Unemployment drops with arrival of '84'85 ski season The opening of the local ski season last month brought with it a drop in the Summit County unemployment rate. The November rate fell to a forecasted 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent in October. David Turner, manager of the Heber Job Service office, said the employment picture in the county is "still bright," referring to the continuing drop in the local rate. An indication of that drop can be found by comparing it to the November 1983 jobless rate 11.2 percent, over four percentage points higher than this year's rate. Outside of Summit County, the state rate for Utah stayed the same in November, 6.3 percent. The national jobless ranks shrank somewhat, some-what, however, from 7.4 percent in October to 7.2 percent last month. Both of those rates are seasonally adjusted. For the first time in many months, the size of the labor force in Summit County outgrew the number of new jobs. Turner said from November of last year through this November, the 'abor force grew by 15.7 percent. Over the same period non-agricultural jobs grew by 8.5 percent. Turner said a continued discrepancy in those two growth rates could cause problems, namely a shortage of jobs, but a single month or two are nothing to worry about. Turner said service-related jobs, most revolving around the ski industry, have replaced construction as the main local openings. He said the only construction openings presently are for a small lot of highly specialized positions. Turner predicted the rate would level off or drop slightly in December. "We usually show a slight decline in these two months," he said. |