Development agency to focus on 'good' jobs

The new co-directors of the Utah Department of Community and Economic Development said Thursday that they want the department to be more focused in certain activities and ultimately create standards-raising jobs.

Ladd Christensen and Martin Frey explained — sometimes in specifics and sometimes in vague terms — strategic concepts to the state Board of Business and Economic Development.

Whether it is helping create new companies, retaining and growing existing companies or bringing new ones to Utah, the ultimate result should be jobs that increase the standard of living, Frey said.

"So, not any job is good. We need to think about what raises the standard of living," he said.

That, he added, requires a two-fold approach.

"We need to create jobs that are higher than the median income within the Wasatch Front, and that's really the core value we want to bring to the table. And then outside the Wasatch Front, maybe looking across rural Utah, any job that brings in health benefits and all of the associated benefits is good news for the state. . . . That's really what we want to bring and where we're going to focus on our success criteria."

In recent years, companies receiving state Industrial Assistance Fund money had to commit to creating jobs paying at or above the county median wage. The board's chairman, David Simmons, wondered if the new approach would result in rural jobs paying 80 percent of the county median, or lower, "and we would be getting down to minimum-wage labor and incenting jobs for that."

"Think of it this way: If we create call-center jobs or service-industry jobs here in the Wasatch Front, that's fine," Frey said. "But what we're really after are the high-tech jobs that are higher than the median income. I'm not going to be as selective, let's say, outside (that in) rural Utah. If we can bring call centers into some of these rural areas, I think that's a great idea."

Board member Jerry Oldroyd noted that a major problem with rural Utah jobs is they come with few benefits. "Focusing on that, I think, is very beneficial," he said.

As for the state's overall economy, Frey said Utah weathered the recession, but there are lingering concerns that the tech sector has not rebounded as well and that average annual pay is slipping as a percentage of the U.S. average.