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Utah Receives Good Economic Rankings

UCF U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Governor Herbert is in Washington, DC touting Utah’s latest rankings in an annual U.S. Chamber of Commerce report. The state ranked high in economic development and recovery efforts.

Natalie Gochnour, Executive Director of the Salt Lake Chamber, says it’s a good day for Utah’s economy.

“We’re ranking very high in terms of the engineering, science other technical occupations, job growth in our state, third fastest growing economy in the nation with job growth in excess of two percent, where we’ve got a national economy that can’t quite hit the one percent level,” Gochnour says.

In the national chamber’s annual Enterprising States report, Utah earned the most top 10 rankings in areas like business birth rate, higher education efficiency, and tax environment.  It’s also number two in the country for exports and international trade, growing 37 percent in the last year.

Sophia DiCaro, the Deputy Director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, says the state has received a steady stream of praise because of its fiscally prudent policies.

“We want to make sure that we do everything we can to make sure the tax environment is such that these companies will be successful here," she says. "We’ve gained the reputation of having a stable business friendly environment. Stability is key in these uncertain times.”

Utah’s unemployment rate is just below 6 %, while the current national unemployment rate is more than 8%.

2012 Enterprising States Report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Whittney Evans grew up southern Ohio and has worked in public radio since 2005. She has a communications degree from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, where she learned the ropes of reporting, producing and hosting. Whittney moved to Utah in 2009 where she became a reporter, producer and morning host at KCPW. Her reporting ranges from the hyper-local issues affecting Salt Lake City residents, to state-wide issues of national interest. Outside of work, she enjoys playing the guitar and getting to know the breathtaking landscape of the Mountain West.
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