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Show Davis has low unemployment ' about 2,500 each, as did Salt Lake City corporation. If you work for Safeway Stores or First Security Bank of Utah, you're not alone. About 2,000 others join you around the state. Defense Depot Ogden and Weber State College record the same number, as does Fred Meyer, Southland-7-1 1 and American Amer-ican Express. CLEARFIELD - You might not agree if you're out pounding the pavement for a job, but Davis County's in an enviable position when it comes to the employment picture. Other than for tiny Daggett County, with a population of about 700, Davis boasts the lowest unemployment rate, says Jack Bailey, Clearfield-Davis Job Service manager. Daggett's stands at only 1.1 percent but Davis' 3.4 percent is a strong number two, especially when you consider a population more than 200 times as large, here. Even with Thiokol's level of unemployment brought on by reductions at Morton-Thiokol, May figures for Box Elder County Coun-ty were only slightly higher than Davis, at 3.6 percent. Davis' unemployment level matched that of April and May, . 1985, but was slightly better than March, 1986's 3.7 percent. By comparison, eight of the state's 29 counties still counted joblessness at more than 10 percent; Wasatch at 16.2, Duchesne at 13.4, Sanpete, 13; Juab, 11.6; Uintah, 11.3; Carbon, 10.9; Summit, 10.3, with Grand coming in at 10.2. The state as a whole was faring relatively well, registering a rate of about one in 19 out of work, at 5.2 percent. That was almost two percentage points better than the national level for May, Mr. Bailey says. Davis listed a civilian labor force of 80,740, up by 2,500 from the previous year. At the same time, jobs within the county grew by just over 1,000 to 52,690. Utah is experiencing the lowest unemployment levels since early 1980, Mr. Bailey says. , Taking a "historic" look at the jobs picture in Davis County, Mr. Bailey related some interesting facts. In just 11 years, preliminary figures indicate the labor force grew by more than 30,000, from 47,000 to 78,000. Employment grew just as drastically, drastic-ally, climbing to 75,000-plus. Non-agricultural in-county employment grew Somewhat less though, he says. Some 51,500 positions were noted in 1985 compared to about 31,000 10 years earlier. In spite of major population and job position gains, the number num-ber of unemployed was little different 10 years earlier. At 2,902 last year, it was 2,447 in 1975. Its highest level was reached in 1983 when nearly 4,900 were out of a job while fewer than 1 ,500 were seeking work in 1978. That year saw a 2.7 percent unemployment unem-ployment rate while the state's stood at 3.8. To see how income has grown in the past 15 years, Davis' average 1985 monthly payroll wage stood at $1,590 in 1985 vs. $672 in 1970. Both figures are slightly better than the state averages of $1,440 last year and $529. That often-quoted "per capita" or per person income has shown gigantic gains, since 1970, growing by more than three times, to $10,452. While above the state average, it's slightly below Morgan and Weber, where there are more smaller families. fami-lies. If you were a civilian working at HAFB, you were still well within your bounds of boasting its status as the state's largest employer. Some 15,500 were listed there at the end of 1985. Behind that came Brigham Young University at 12,000 with the University of Utah not far behind, listing 11,500. Other big employers of interest to Davis County include: Morton Thiokol, then at 6,500; Hercules, Inc. at 5,500; Utah Power and Light and Sperry Rand Corp. , both 4,500; Mountain Bell, 4,000, with the same number at IRS and ZCMI. The Post Office is big business, as well, listing 3,500 employees, em-ployees, the same as the Davis School District. Smith's Food King notes 2,500, Skaggs, the same, along with the Union Pacific Railroad. K-Mart, Albertsons Inc. and LDS Hospital all employed |