Utah has a puny unemployment rate, huge job growth and a stronger venture capital environment that help make it "the hottest, best-performing economy in the United States," according to Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Even so, Perry said, Utah still must be vigilant in attracting companies and otherwise continuing economic development.

"There are some out there who would say, 'Why not just stop and ride it out and see what's happening right now?' And we are on the other side of that," Perry said at a Professional Republican Women meeting Thursday.

"When you're hot, you have to build that base and you have to build a base for as long as you can build a base, because once those companies are here, it's very unlikely that they leave."

GOED needs to remain pro-active, he said. "We have to identify the key economic accelerators in the state and then go after those kinds of companies."

"There are some out there that are so concerned about that low unemployment (rate) that maybe we need to stop recruiting. But our migration patterns are showing that exactly the opposite is true.

"We have to bring talent back to the state of Utah. And these companies that are creating that job churn that some people are concerned about? Job churn is actually a sign of a really good, healthy economy," Perry said. "The people who have been underemployed for a very long time start moving up. They start getting opportunities they never had before."

Utah is getting a lot of interest from site selectors, who scour the nation searching for locations for their client companies. Utah recently landed Proctor & Gamble, which will put a paper-products manufacturing plant in Box Elder County.

"Names like that are starting to look at the state of Utah," Perry said. "The site selectors who we're working with right now are the biggest names in the world in IT and life sciences that are now scouting spots in the state of Utah.

"These are the kinds of investigations we didn't get for a very long time. There are a lot of companies that are having some natural reasons to come to the state of Utah," he said. "This is becoming a place where they'd like to be, but increasingly, where they need to be."

Some legislative proposals also can help Utah build its economic base, he added. Perry said measures about tax reform, health care, business resource centers, tax credits for relocating and expanding Utah companies and other economic development initiatives are likely to be considered by the Legislature at its upcoming general session. Some could help startup companies become something special some day.

"We may be able to recruit a Microsoft — maybe, but maybe not," Perry said, "but we certainly can grow, to create a Microsoft or something like it here in the state."

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