Utah government and business leaders gathered at a meeting Friday to celebrate the state's booming economy, including praise earlier this week from the Wall Street Journal, which named the Salt Lake City metro area the best job location in the country The growing challenges brought to attention must be addressed so that the mojo continues to rise.
At the One Utah Summit in downtown Salt Lake City, the event formerly called the Governor's Economic Summit, Natalie Gochnour, associate dean of the University of Utah's David Eccles School of Business and director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, gave her a talk Annual look at the state's economic ups and downs over the past year and some things to keep an eye on in the days ahead.
A bumpy road ahead?
Gochnour noted that while Utah's economic growth has been trending above the national average for years, recent months have seen a convergence of those lines, pushing Utah from its spot as the nation's growth leader and now trailing six other states this metric. And two of the employment sectors that were once Utah's highlights, high tech and financial services, have seen negative momentum in recent reports.
Gochnour said Utah's population growth and a changing dynamic in how that growth is driven has placed additional stress on a number of critical areas, including congestion, air quality and, perhaps most importantly, real estate prices. She said Utah has had positive net immigration in 32 of the last 33 years, adding 650,000 new residents. And the housing needs of these newcomers have contributed to the market entering a supply deficit and prices skyrocketing.
Gov. Spencer Cox expressed his own concerns about the current state of Utah's housing industry.
“The greatest threat to our people is the unsustainable price of affordable housing,” he said. “If you can’t afford to live here, you won’t start a business here.”
The state of startups
There are also many positives, including the state's nation-leading labor force participation rate, healthy wage growth and economic growth that has cooled but is still well in positive territory.
According to Utah-based entrepreneur Brad Bonham, the state also leads the nation when it comes to the best locations to start a business.
Bonham, a veteran entrepreneur and business educator, said those who start their companies in Utah are 70% more likely to achieve the vaunted “unicorn” status, a term coined by the tech industry for companies that have a Reach $1 billion valuation level. He also touted the debut of the Startup State Initiative and its website, which provides step-by-step guidance and numerous resources for those looking to start a business in Utah.
Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber, said the same formula that helped Utah achieve its current high-performing economy will help it overcome the growing pains that have come with success: planning, foresight and Ingenuity in the private sector.
“Private sector innovation along with public sector support will unleash the power of free enterprise,” he said.
Business “danger”
Virginia Pearce, director of the Utah Film Commission, touched on the state's historic and ongoing success as a destination for filmmakers seeking unique landscapes and local talent, while representatives from some of Utah's emerging industries gathered for a round of individually themed events. Danger.”
Some answers and subsequent correct questions from the ad-lib competition:
Answer: “This university had the first ARPANET node outside of California.”
Question: “What is the University of Utah?”
Answer: “These three states have the highest concentrations of life sciences workers.”
Question: “What are Massachusetts, New Jersey and Utah?”
Answer: “At $780 million, this was the largest exit for a life sciences company in Utah.”
Question: “What is Tolero Pharmaceuticals?”
Answer: “This person became known as the 'Father of Computer Graphics' while studying at the University of Utah.”
Question: “Who is Evan Sutherland?”
Answer: “Over the next decade, a larger portion of Utah’s economy will be driven by these four industry segments, and at an increasing rate.”
Question: “What are aerospace, defense, cybersecurity and space exploration?”
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