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SALT LAKE CITY -- Here's the riddle of the day: How can the state of Utah be ranked in the top 10 best states for business while ranking in the bottom five states for quality education?
It's because we tend to really over-achieve in the other categories measured by CNBC in its annual "America's Top States for Business" rankings, published Tuesday.
The business and financial cable arm of the NBC network rates states in 10 categories ranging from the rather subjective (Quality of Life) to specific measurements related to the economy, cost of living, access to capital and the state of the infrastructure.
How CNBC's survey ranks Utah among the 50 states:
- Cost of Business: 12
- Workforce: 8
- Quality of Life: 14
- Economy: 16
- Infrastructure & Transportation: 33
- Technology & Innovation: 25
- Education: 46
- Business Friendliness: 4
- Access to Capital: 23
- Cost of Living: 17
Utah ranks in the top 10 in two categories (Workforce and Business Friendliness) and in the top 20 in a total of six categories, but we finish a miserable 46th in the category of education, measured by a compilation of data involving test scores, class size, per-capita spending, and the number and quality of institutions of higher learning.
Overall, we rank 8th in the CNBC survey, behind Virginia, Texas, North Carolina, Georgia, Colorado, Massachusetts and Minnesota. We would have finished in the top five, ahead of Colorado, if our ranking in the education category were even at the level of neighboring Wyoming, ranked 18th in education and 21st overall. Of course, there are major obstacles in that path, including the demographic reality of large families and lingering animosity toward public education by certain members of the Utah Legislature (you know who you are).
The good news in the survey is that Utah ranks 8th in quality of workforce, which would seem to be a contradiction given that one of the parameters in the workforce rating is the education level of the average worker. It's even more disparate in the case of Arizona, which ranks 1st in workforce and 49th in education. The workforce ratings are also influenced by the presence of organized labor (or lack thereof), the effectiveness of state-sponsored job training programs and the "number of available workers," which seems an odd factor to include given high unemployment rates coast-to-coast.
What should be worrisome for Utahns is not what the survey says about education right now, but what it might portend. The rating on workforce quality is a contemporary snapshot that suggests things are OK and Utah kids grow up to be good workers despite a public education system that struggles to keep up with the Joneses. The question is, can that continue if investment in schools remains stagnant or continues to slide?
As it stands, whether you put much stock in such media-sponsored top-50 lists or not, this one does tend to pretty well describe the Utah business environment -- decent tax structure, easy-going regulatory environment, few unions, good track record for technological innovation, strong transportation infrastructure, high quality of life and a workforce that, for now, is educated enough.
Email: cpsarras@ksl.com
