Utah's economic outlook is No. 1

Utah continues to be the top-ranked state for its economic outlook, according to a report released Monday.

Another report, being released Tuesday, ranked Utah in the middle among states for employment and average wages in the technology industry.

For at least the third consecutive year, Utah was No. 1 among states for economic outlook, according to a report from the American Legislative Exchange Council, a group of state legislators "dedicated to advancing the principles of free markets, limited government, federalism and individual liberty."

Utah's 2009 outlook topped those of Colorado, Arizona, Virginia and South Dakota, the remainder of the top five states. The bottom five were New York, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine and New Jersey.

The economic outlook rank was formulated from rankings in 15 state policy variables. Utah was in the top 10 in top marginal corporate income tax rate, personal income tax progressivity, whether a state/inheritance tax is levied, state liability system survey, state minimum wage, average worker compensation costs, and whether Utah is a right-to-work state.

The "Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index" report presents rankings of the states based on the relationship between policies and performance, revealing which states are best positioned to make a recovery.

However, Utah ranked 22nd in economic performance. In the three performance variables, Utah was 43rd in personal income per capita growth from 1997 to 2007, 23rd for absolute domestic migration from 1998 to 2007, and fifth in nonfarm payroll employment cumulative growth from 1997 to 2007, the report said.

"The top-performing states keep taxes, spending and regulatory burdens low, while the biggest losers in the book tend to share similar policies of high tax rates, unsustainable spending and regulation," the report's co-author, Jonathan Williams, said in a prepared statement. "State governments that believe they can bring about economic recovery by growing government and increasing taxes are sadly mistaken."

Details are available at www.alec.org.

On the technology front, Utah was 26th in employment and 37th in average high-tech wage in the "Cyberstates 2009" study of the high-tech industry. That report used 2008 national data on employment and 2007 state and national figures in other categories for its rankings.

The report said 4,256 high-tech companies in Utah had a combined 58,542 jobs and a $3.6 billion combined payroll in 2007.

The report said that between 2002 and 2007, the industry in Utah added 9,200 jobs, for a 19 percent increase. It added 2,600 jobs, for a 5 percent increase, between 2006 and 2007. Fifty-seven of every 1,000 private-sector workers in Utah are employed by high-tech firms.