Apr. 17--Two years ago, Utah had one of the nation's hottest job markets.

Today, companies that once had to beg for workers are overwhelmed with applicants hoping to score a job in a downturn that's shaping up to be the worst since the Great Depression.

Gone are the signing bonuses, the putting up with poorly performing employees. Also disappearing for many are 401(k) matches and decent raises, if there are raises at all.

You hear about the grim jobs numbers all the time, but what is Utah's labor market really like for workers, job-seekers and companies feeling the effects of the recession?

"I'm trying to be optimistic but there're just not very many people hiring right now," said Jason Anderson, area manager for the staffing firm Nesco Resource in West Valley City. Like other veteran staffing professionals, he considers the job-market downturn in Utah unprecedented.

So does Mark Knold, chief economist for the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

"There are no truly 'recession-proof' sectors and positions" this time around, Knold said. "Everything is being affected, some more than others."

Like most other parts of the country, Utah is losing jobs. The state's economy saw 32,000 jobs disappear in the past year, pushing unemployment to more than 5 percent for the first time in four years.

Although that's a lower rate than almost every other state -- and a national association of legislators recently rated Utah's economy the nation's most competitive and most likely to be first to recover from the recession -- the pain is still being felt.

Companies across industries are laying off workers, by the hundreds in some instances. Many laid-off workers are struggling to find comparable employment and similar pay.

Where the recession hit hardest

Although employees are in demand in a few areas -- health care, natural resources and education/government --

it's not hard to spot industries that have cut back.

Construction suffered first in Utah, starting in summer 2007, when declining home sales battered the residential side of the sector, and it has remained the hardest hit since. In the year that ended in March, Utah lost nearly 18 percent of its construction jobs, or about 16,200 positions.

At first, there were still jobs in commercial construction, but with many projects now on hold, it has become difficult for those who lose a job to find something else.

Forklift operator John Allen lost his job at a Utah construction company in November. His search has come up empty since.

"Every time I hear of an open job that I know I'm qualified to fill there are

hundreds of applicants I'm competing against," Allen said.

Even many of the laborers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters and carpet installers who still have a job have seen their incomes reduced.

The downturn in real estate quickly trickled down to financial services, a sector that has shed 2.6 percent of its jobs in the past year, or 2,000 positions. The huge ebbs and flows of the stock market have left many financial advisers, bank and credit union employees, mortgage lenders, investment bankers and real estate agents jobless.

Also hit hard has been manufacturing, which is down more than 9 percent, or about 11,900 positions, over the past year. The sector, which was in something of a decline when the economy started to tank, now has a lengthy list of layoff casualties.

One high-profile employer after another has been affected. KraftMaid Cabinetry closed its plant in West Jordan just before Christmas, and about 500 people lost their jobs.