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Utah gets attention for diverse, durable economy

Posted at 6:17 PM, Aug 29, 2014
and last updated 2014-08-30 00:04:55-04

SALT LAKE CITY -- A pair of statistics have combined to spotlight Utah as a durable economy: second fastest job growth and fourth most diverse.

Gov. Gary Herbert made a point of it at the beginning of his monthly press conference.

"We don't have all of our economic eggs in one basket," the governor said.

He has the evidence to back it up.

In August alone, three major corporations in three separate industries announced they would bring new jobs to Utah after considering other locations.

Goldman Sachs announced 350 new jobs within 20 years, Overstock.com announced 333 informational technology jobs, and Varian Medical Systems announced 1000 new medical manufacturing jobs over 20 years.

Varian may not be as famous, but they are a giant in the medical technology field, providing the world with a third of the X-ray tubes used for CT scans, radiation treatments for cancer, and other purposes.

"We need all the way from factory workers to Ph.D.'s in mechanical and electrical engineering, and we find a very good opportunity to recruit all the talent here [in Utah]," said Sunny Sunyal, President of Medical Imaging for Variant.