Utah's employment growth continues to defy expectations, growing by a monumental 5 percent in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

"What's surprising me is that we're still sustaining this high level of employment growth," Mark Knold, senior economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services, said Tuesday. The last year in which employment growth was this high was 1996, he noted, when Utah's economy was booming.

After years of recession, the state's economy and job market began to heat up in late 2003. By 2004, job growth climbed to 2.4 percent. By 2005, it was 4 percent.

Job growth this past fiscal year hovered between 4.6 percent in January and a high of 5.3 percent in June.

This high rate of job growth continues to vex employers, said Susan Smith, a Salt Lake City-based regional director of Manpower of Utah, a temporary staffing services company.

Turnover remains a key issue, she said. Although employers have been doing more in recent months to retain workers, including making counteroffers when a rival company offers higher wages or more perks, Smith said she still sees more workers are on the move.

"People are thinking, if ever there was a time to look for a new opportunity, it is now when the market is hot and companies need people," she said. "They aren't afraid they won't be able to find another job."

Knold and other economists thought employment growth was leveling off this summer because companies were having such difficulty finding workers in an extremely tight labor market. But that doesn't appear to be happening yet, in great part because people are moving from other parts of the country - and even from Mexico - to fill available positions.

Utah's job growth - among the highest nationally - has translated into about 58,300 new jobs over the past year, Workforce Services reported.

The high rate of job growth has driven the unemployment rate down to about 2.8 percent last month from 4.3 percent in September 2005. Utah is basically in a state of full employment - meaning almost everyone who wants a job can find one.

"I'm not sure how much lower of an unemployment rate you can get," Knold said. "I don't think it's even possible."

Only 36,600 Utahns were unemployed last month, compared with 55,200 in the same month a year earlier.

Knold said he is worried about the ability of Utah retailers to hire enough seasonal workers to handle a strong Christmas season, especially with increased sales expected because many Utahns harbor a feeling of prosperity.

A shortage of seasonal workers could dampen holiday sales, which traditionally are a big part of many retailers' yearly sales.

"There may be more people coming through the door with money than there will be salespeople there to take the money," Knold said.

But Susan Vobejda, a vice president at Yahoo! HotJobs, an employment Web site, doesn't believe that will happen.

"Many workers look to the holiday season to augment their income with seasonal work," she said, noting that it also usually offers flexible hours and employee discounts at a time when many people are spending more money.