UTAH ECONOMY HIGHLIGHTS

February 2, 2015 Utah was chosen as the best state in the nation for business by 24/7 Wall St.’s independent business climate assessment. January 08, 2015, The 2014 Milken Institute announced Salt Lake City as number six on their Best-Performing Cities Index. November 13, 2014 Utah was ranked number the one state in the Forbes magazine rankings of “Best States for Business.” Utah has held the number one spot in the Forbes rankings four out of the last five years.

Employers are electing to move to this area because of factors such as Utah’s skilled and educated workforce, (many of whom have foreign-language skills gained during LDS missions). The state has a very pro-business climate and companies benefit from energy costs that are 26 percent below the national average and third lowest in the U.S. Utah’s economy has expanded 2.4 percent a year over the past five years—fifth best in the U.S.

Utah is one of the leading states whose high-tech industry has received major venture capital investments in 2014, significantly ahead of the traditional tech states. The Provo-Orem, Utah metro ranked first with a $51.3 million per average deal, and Salt Lake City-Ogden, Utah metro ranked third with a $17.2 million per average deal. San Francisco, by comparison took in $18.4 million per average deal.

Utah as the fourth most diverse economy in the nation, Several key strategic industry clusters have shown significant growth over the last decade in IT and software, aerospace and defense, finance, energy development, and life sciences. With a job growth around three percent and a cost of doing business at 12.9 percent below the national average, Utah has been able to parley its workforce strength by focusing on the complete workforce pipeline from kindergarten through advanced certificates and degrees.

Forbes Utah Best State for Business
• Utah added jobs at a 0.6% annual clip from 2008 through 2013- good for fourth best in the country
• The gains are expected to continue with both Moody’s Analytics and EMSI forecasting top 10 growth rates for jobs over the next five years
• Utah also has the highest household incomes among the 10 states with the best job growth forecasts over the next five years
• Utah has a very pro-business climate
• Companies benefit from energy costs that are 26% below the national average—third lowest in the nation
• Utah’s economy expanded 2.4% a year over the past five years—fifth best in the U.S
• It is the only state to rank in the top 10 in five of the six main categories we used to determine Forbes the Best States
• Utah has become a technology hub
• Life sciences is a targeted industry for Utah’s economic developers
• Goldman Sachs has 1,700 employees in Salt Lake, which serves as its second biggest office in the Americas

Top five in all three job growth measures – Long-term; Short-term; and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM)

#3 in Gross State Product Growth
#3 in Growth in share of national exports
#3 in Higher-ed degree output
#4 in Export intensity and growth
#4 in New start up rate
#5 in Bridge quality
#6 in Labor force utilization
#7 in High-tech share of all businesses
#7 in Small business lending
#7 in High School Advanced Placement scores
#8 in Productivity growth
#8 in Legal environment
#8 in Cost of living
#8 in College affordability
#9 in Business tax climate
#10 Academic R&D intensity
#10 U.S. Business policy index