Economic Development 1.2: Business Base

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT WILL WORK TO EXPAND THE BUSINESS BASE BY RECRUITING QUALITY COMPANIES TO UTAH

Other Information:

Performance Measure: Foster the growth of Utah's export industries that bring money into the State and create new jobs. Economic development seeks to encourage the creation of quality, higher paying jobs by capitalizing on the State's strengths and advantages. The Economic Ecosystems initially are focused in six areas: Digital Media, Web Services, Aerospace, Medical Information, and Biomedical. In the chart above the first two of the six are included in Information Technology, Aerospace stands alone, and the last two are included in Life Sciences. Recruitment and business efforts are being focused in these Ecosystems. Aerospace employment continues to be adversely affected by declines in federal aerospace-related spending and over-capacity commercial airlines. Performance Measure: Recruit companies that pay higher than average wages and provide economic development incentives that support recruitment goals. New or expanding companies directly recruited by the Department of Community and Economic Development have wages that are 10% higher than the state average. The State's only discretionary incentive is the IAF (Industrial Assistance Fund). The wages of companies that were directly recruited and that received IAF incentives are compared to the state average in the chart above. Looking ahead: Utah's incentives are designed to create significant numbers of jobs in a cost effective manner. Also, incentives that result in investments in training or physical infrastructure accrue to the entire community and remain, whether or not a particular company stays.

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