deck: Educated workforce, pro-business government policies, lower cost of living attracts more out-of-state tech manufacturers and services

Utah's technology economy is booming, thanks to growing venture capital investments and a robust job market as pro-business government policies, a highly-educated work force, and a relatively lower cost of living attract more tech-based manufacturers and services providers to relocate to the state.

Venture capital investments in Utah jumped 23 percent to $248 million last year from 2004, while the state's tech sector added 800 jobs to 49,300 jobs in 2004, the most current year for which state employment figures were available. Nationally, U.S. tech employment was up 61,000 jobs to a total of 5.6 million in 2005.

"Although the tech job gains in Utah seem small, these are significant, compared with California, which has the nation's largest tech employment base. California lost 10,600 jobs in 2004, and Texas, which has the nation's second-largest tech employment, lost 10,500 jobs," said Jessica Wright, executive director of the American Electronics Association's (AeA) Mountain States Council.

"Tech employment in Colorado, which is known as a hub for storage and semi-conductor industries, is also slowing as some companies there are outsourcing their manufacturing functions out-of-state to less expensive areas," she said.

AeA ranked the states' hi-tech employment, wages, exports, and other key economic factors in its annual report "Cyberstates 2006: A Complete State-by-State Overview of the High-Technology Industry."

"Utah's strong work ethic and high level of education make it an attractive location for technology companies to develop new products and techniques," Wright said. "Electro-medical equipment manufacturing, Internet services and software publishing are seeing the most employment growth because these are the types of tech companies locating in Utah."

Utah ranked 13th nationally in terms of software publishers employment with 4,700 jobs.

Pro-business policies also help encourage more tech companies to locate in Utah, Wright said. "There's also a lot of transparency in terms of companies knowing what government projects are available in Utah, and how to get plugged in to get contracts with the government," she said.

As a result, the number of new start-up, or out-of-state hi-tech businesses relocating to Utah jumped 6.9 percent, or 230, to 3,579 in 2004, she said.

Utah's high-tech exports, which account for roughly 16 percent of Utah's total exports, grew to $1 billion in 2005, from more than $354,000 in 1999. Nationally, U.S. high-tech exports totaled $199 billion in 2005, up 4 percent from the previous year.