Utah Again Ranks High In Economic Development And Business Creation

November 23, 2009 -- by PR or News Wire

The Governor’s Office of Economic Development is pleased that Utah cities and the State of Utah continues to receive economic development recognition in national surveys.

Earlier this year, Utah ranked number 2 overall in the prestigious “Top 10 Pro-Business States” from Pollina Corporate. In their report “Rebuilding American’s Economic Power” they ranked each state in the annual study based on job retention and creation. Utah outperformed not only the western states but most of the rest of the country.

Recently, CNNMoney.com released its ranking of the top 50 places in America to start a business. Logan, Utah is one of only three cities west of the Mississippi to receive the recognition in the reports small metro section as a “Best Place to Start a Business.”

Logan has a wide diversity of economic sectors with a focus on Education, Manufacturing and Processing, Health, Agriculture, Retail and Business Services. The city’s largest employer is Utah State University, other large employers include the Cache County School District, IHC operated Logan Regional Hospital, Thermo-Fisher Laboratories, and Gossner Foods.

Because of Logan’s economic climate, a number of Utah companies have chosen to headquarter their businesses in the city including Icon Health & Fitness, Hogi Yogi, S&S Power, Campbell Scientific, and NewDawn Technologies. Logan’s tax structure and pro business environment has made Logan an excellent choice for starting and growing a business according to the CNNMoney report.

Spencer Eccles the Executive Director for the Governor’s Office of Economic Development noted, “Despite the current national downturn, Logan has out performed many other areas of the country in building and growing businesses by encouraging innovation”.

Because Utah State University is in the heart of Logan, there is a great entrepreneurial spirit that has driven Logan’s economy according to the Mayor of Logan has expressed this, “The citizens of Logan are pleased to support entrepreneurs. Because of Utah State University we enjoy having a young and vibrant college community and workforce.”

Now with Logan, Salt Lake City has once again been ranked high for top economic performance. Salt Lake City was ranked the 3rd on the list of “Best Performing Cities in America”. The 2009 Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate Partners Best-Performing Cities Index ranks U.S. metropolitan areas by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components of the rankings include job, wage and salary, and technology growth. The Milken Institute best performing cities ranking depicts those U.S. metropolitan areas that are recording the top economic performance as compared nationally.

An economic sector performing well in Utah, according to the Governor’s office of Planning and Budget, is tourism. Total spending by travelers and tourists in 2008 reached $7.190 billion. Despite the national downturn, tourism spending reduced the tax burden on each Utah household in 2008 by approximately $708.

This year visitor days are down in many tourism sectors nationally, however a bright spot in Utah is that visitation to Utah’s parks are up. Year to date through October, National Park visits were up 5.8% and National Monuments up 4.9%. State parks showed similar gains year to date through September at 4.5%. In 2008, Utah’s national park visitation was up 4.14%, while national park visits declined by 0.26% nationally. Additionally, the ski industry enjoyed five consecutive record breaking years for skier visits from the 2003-04 season through the 2007-08. Furthermore, since 2006, Utah Office of Tourism ad campaigns have generated an average of $12.68 in state and local tax revenue for each $1 spent on advertising. These trends support the latest study from the U.S. Travel Association that ranked Utah 8th in the Nation for the percent increase in spending by Travelers and Tourists during the 2006-07 travel year.

GOED Executive Director, Spencer Eccles acknowledged these economic trends in Utah and the endorsement of the highly respected Milken Institute as recognition of the ongoing economic development performance of the Utah business community. “We in the Governor’s Office of Economic Development’s focus our efforts on the improvement of the business and job opportunities in the state. While there are always ways to improve performance these statewide and local recognitions underscore the fundamental soundness of the Governor Herbert’s economic development programs and outlook,” said Eccles.