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SALT LAKE CITY — Some Utah leaders are banding together to get more people in rural areas to share in the economic prosperity prevailing along the Wasatch Front.
The Salt Lake Chamber, the Utah Department of Workforce Services, along with the Economic Development Corporation of Utah announced this week a partnership initiative called the Chamber Rural Workforce Network aimed at expanding the state’s rural economic development.
The collaborative program was made official through the signing of a memorandum of understanding at the Utah Rural Summit held in Cedar City Tuesday.
“This (memorandum of understanding) represents months of work to align the efforts of our three organizations and partners,” said Derek Miller, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. “With the tools that both Workforce Services and EDCUtah provide, we will work with the business community to provide more job opportunities for rural workers, including remote jobs.”
The Salt Lake Chamber will work with its members, local chambers of commerce and the business community to understand and promote hiring opportunities within the rural Utah workforce, he added.
Eighty percent of the jobs in Utah are located along the Wasatch Front — Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties — with 20% in the remaining 25 counties, explained Nate McDonald, DWS assistant deputy director.
The state Department of Workforce Services reported the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in July registered at 2.8% for the second month in a row. For the 30-day period, approximately 45,400 Utahns were considered unemployed and actively looking for work.
The Utah economy added 54,400 jobs over the last 12 months, with data showing that 1,558,100 people are currently registered as gainfully employed.
Despite those upbeat numbers, many northern Utah companies have struggled to hire enough qualified people to help their firms thrive. At the same time, many rural communities are lacking well-paying job opportunities.
McDonald said the network initiative has identified employment possibilities that could prove mutually beneficial for prospective employers and underserved rural populations. He noted that the new effort is a part of the governor’s pledge to grow 25,000 new jobs in rural Utah communities. Over the past almost two years, nearly 20,000 positions have been created thus far, he said.
“We looked at different positions that — one — could be performed through telecommuting or — two — we have the infrastructure in place in different rural communities where we could move that type of job off the Wasatch and relocate it into a rural area,” he said.
Workforce Services has worked with local employers and rural civic leaders to develop virtual pipelines to less populated areas of the state in need of jobs and economic improvement, he said, noting significant success with moving jobs traditionally located along the Wasatch Front to communities in rural Utah using DWS community data and job banks to help link employers with job seekers throughout the state.
One of the chief goals of the new Chamber Rural Workforce Network will be to continue matching employers with people who can adequately fill the positions that are available, DWS Executive Director Jon Pierpont said.
”We believe the hidden workforce in Utah is in rural Utah,” he said. “We are committed to supporting companies willing to move jobs to rural Utah and connecting them to rural job seekers. It’s a win-win situation for these communities and employers throughout the state.”
Meanwhile, the Economic Development Corp.of Utah has had success with the Development Ready Communities program with over 20 cities and counties participating statewide. The five-stage plan educates rural Utah communities on attracting and growing competitive, high-value companies along with fostering the expansion of local businesses, according to the EDCUtah website.
“As a statewide organization and a partner with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development, EDCUtah looks forward to assisting companies with the data, location information, and contacts with local communities that they need to evaluate a rural Utah expansion project,” said Theresa Foxley, president and CEO of EDCUtah. “To us, this is a core-mission initiative.”
