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Show Utah's economy gets good grade SALT LAKE CITY Utah's economy garnered a better than average rating, according to an annual report card published by the Washington-based Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED). The state garnered two A's for business vitality and development capacity; a B grade for economic performance, and a D for state policy. Overall, the CFED awarded Utah's economy a B grade. "Utah's strong business vitality is based on above-average levels of new business formation and growth, as well as industrial diversity," diver-sity," the report said in praising the state's vitality. The CFED also commended Utah for its short and long-term employment figures, which the report says have shown "impressive growth." Human resources are an important key in the state's economic health. The report said Utah leads the nation in the quality of its human resources and ranks third in technology and infrastructure. Less impressive is the state's economic policy, which the report said is substandard, even though Utah has made strides in international interna-tional marketing. The report's four major grading categories were derived from up to eight subindexes. Utah received A's in International Marketing and Development Assistance, but failing grades in the Workforce Development and Infrastructure category. Officials of the state Division of Business and Economic Development De-velopment are generally pleased with the grading and blame the D grade on the strain the large number of Utah children place on the state budget, and on inadequate publicity of the state programs already in place. CFED graded the economies of every state. Only Connecticut and Maryland received straight A's. The Mountain West region portfolio is composed of poor-to-average divisions (Arizona, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico and Wyoming), one underachiever (Colorado), and Utah and Nevada, two states the report labels as economic hot spots. If the Mountain West states were a corporation, they "might be ripe for a takeover," the report said. |