I live in Salt Lake City and I am interested in the vibrancy of our local economy. So far, Utah seems to have weathered the downturn better than many places. In my search to find out what sets Utah apart, I’ve discovered some interesting facts.
Utahns are great at starting companies. The number of companies in Utah with less than 5 employees has more than doubled since 1990 to 35,388 in 2006 (latest year data is available from the US Department of Commerce). This represents an annual growth rate of 4.8%, outpacing our population growth of 2.5% annually. Nationally, the annual growth rate in companies of less than five employees was 1.2% during the same period.
Job growth is not driven by startups in Utah. 47% of all new jobs created in Utah between 1990 and 2006 were created by businesses with less than 500 employees. However, almost all of this growth occurred in companies with between 10 and 500 employees (over 42% of all jobs created).
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