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Show Study Sfimifnff Growlis In Grand Co. An interesting economic sketch of Grand County has been prepared by the University Uni-versity of Utah, showing changes ' which have taken place from colonization period to the present ei'a. Of particular interest are stastics compiled during the 40's, 50's and 60's decades, during which time a significant signi-ficant economic growth was experienced in the country. In 1940 52.3 percent of Grand County's population resided in Moab, which had a population of 1,084. By 1950 the city's population had increased to 1,274, with 66.9 of all county residents living in the city. By 1960 Moab's population was recorded re-corded at 4,682, 73.8 percent per-cent of the county population. popula-tion. In 1949, 84 percent of all Grand Count' families received re-ceived a yearly income of less than S3, 000; ten years later over 87 percent received re-ceived an income of over $'3,000. Median family income in-come increased 229 percent, compared to an 8 percent statewide. By 19:50 the median med-ian family income for Grand County was ....6.521, over S600 above the state average, aver-age, and IS percent of the families in Grand County had incomes of F10.000 or over, well above the 14 percent per-cent for the whole State, j In the area of wages, j Grand County similarly exceeded ex-ceeded the State. In 1964 the average monthly wage of non-agriculture workers in Grand County was S482, 14 percent above state average, aver-age, and $34 over the 1963 average for Grand County. However, the only industries in Grand County which paid a higher average than the State were in the mining and services and miscellane-eous miscellane-eous catagories; all other industrials were below' the state wage level. The average monthly wage in Grand County climbed ,57 percent from 1955 to 1964, but at an erratic rate. Decreases occurred in 1960 and 1963. Personal income in Grand County reached an all-time high in 1962, increasing o-ver o-ver S4 million from the previous pre-vious year. By 1964, personal per-sonal income had declined over $1 million, with the sharpest drop occurring in contract construction due to the completion of the Texas Gulf Sulphus potash processing, proces-sing, plant. During the period 1962 to 1964 increases in manufacturing, manufact-uring, services and government govern-ment have countered the drastic decline, so over-all income has not been significant! signif-icant! affected. A declining importance of agriculture as a major source of personel income in the county is shown in the figures, also Housing experienced a f'gnificant increase during these years. In I960 68 percent per-cent of all housing units in i Moab had been built after 1950. indicating that two-I two-I thirds of all county housing units were relatively new. The largest increase occurred occur-red from 1955 through 1958 when 759 housing units were built. In 1958 there were 16 dewlling permits issued in the county; at the peak year, 1961 there were 135, and in 1962 100. By 1964 only 7 permits were issued, and in 1965, only 14. In 1950 almost 25 percent of the employed of the Co. were engaged in agriculture or a related industry. By 1960 the figure dropped to 4 percent. Even after the uranium boom, which was responsible for the change, agriculture failed to recover. In 1950 agriculture employed employ-ed 154 people; in '60 only 67 In 1960 there were four major industries in the Co. mining, services, retail trade and transportation which together employed 79 percent of the employed. In the next 10 years the percent per-cent employed in mining increased in-creased from 42 percent to 12; retail trade declined from 15 to 13; services from 18 to 17 percent, and transportation trans-portation remained constant at 7 percent of the total employed. em-ployed. Future predictions for the county were made in the report based on past and present industries most like-j'ly like-j'ly to contribute to the co. ! future development. Of the : three industries of relative i importance, mining was pre-I pre-I sumed the most important, ; followed by manufacturing. Last was agriculture. Listed as potential for the county was uranium, potash and mineral fuels. "There appears to be little doubt that mining will continue to be dominating influence in the economic development develop-ment of the county." Further expansions of the manufacturing industry was deemed unlikely because of its unfavorable location, lack of existing manufactur ing base, and lack of adequate ade-quate labor force. Secondary industries contributing con-tributing to the future were listed as trade, sendee, and because of Canyonlands National Na-tional Park, Arches National Nation-al Monument and Deadhorse Point State Park, government govern-ment was listed as an industry. in-dustry. Future population estimates estima-tes for Grand County were as follows: a high of 9,600 in 1975; 10,800 by 1980; 12, 800, 1985; 15,100, 1990; 17, 800, 1995: and 21,000 by the year 2,000. |