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Show I Business ciimis ml, .$ , -i" 'Ui "fft sr.; 5 . it ?v : :j, Jlj :f;:' I' ii 1 I f' I 1- jii . ill' ,; h. -pi1 . rVJ-Oi 4 J,; ,'v vfi" "Q - . . 1! is? slower pace than that of the nation. During the 1960's, the rate of business growth in Utah was 28 percent below that of the United States as a whole. Since the beginning of the present decade, business in Utah has been growing more than twice as fast as the rest of the nation. The report shows that more than 50 percent of all business activity in Utah is concentrated in Salt Lake County with nearly half of the Salt Lake County total emanating from Salt Lake City proper. Over the past fifteen years, however, there has been a considerable shifting of business activity away from the central business districts to the suburban areas of the county. In 1960, for example, Salt Lake City accounted for nearly 72 percent of all business activity carried out in Salt Lake County. By 1976, this percentage had dropped to less than 49 percent of the county total. id Business activity in Cedar City increased by 10.8 percent last year, according to a study just released by Utah Foundation, the private research organization. This compares with a gain of 14 percent in gross business volume for the state as a whole in 1976. Part of the increased dollar sales volume last year, however, was due to inflation. The Foundation report notes that the consumer's con-sumer's price index rose by 5.8 percent in 1976. When adjustments are made for the declining purchasing power of the dollar, the effective gain in sales volume throughout the state during 1976 was 7.8 percent. This adjusted increase compares with an effective gain of 2.5 percent in 1975 and only 0.7 percent during the recession year of 1974. According to the Foundation Foun-dation study the increased business activity in Utah last year was a reflection of a strong economy and a growing job market. During 1976, nearly 27,000 new jobs were created in Utah. This represents a gain of 6 percent per-cent in total nonagricultural employment. Unemployment Unem-ployment in the state, on the other hand, declined by 13 percent during this same twelve-month period. Gross sales in Cedar City last year; as measured by local sales tax collections amounted to $56,317,000. This compares with total business activity of $50,811,000 in 1975, $29,496,000 in 1970, and $18,912,000 in 1965. Foundation analysts point out that the sales and use tax provides an excellent guide to the volume of , business activity in Utah. It includes retail sales and rentals of tangible personal property along with restaurant meals, admissions, hotel and motel charges, and many services such as telephone, electric, gas, laundry, repair, cleaning, etc. In addition, it reflects sales which become part of an industrial construction con-struction or expansion program. Excluded, however, are sales of materials and equipment used in the installation of pollution control equipment for industrial concerns. Since 1970, business activity ac-tivity in Utah has been rising much more rapidly than that of the nation as a whole. Between 1970 and 1976, sales volume in Utah (after adjustments ad-justments for inflation) has risen an average of 6.9 percent per year, compared with an average increase of only 2.9 percent in adjusted personal consumption expenditures ex-penditures throughout the nation during this same period. According to the Foundation Foun-dation report, this pattern of the past six years is an almost direct reversal of the 1960 experience when business activity in Utah was gorwing at a much This s BUSINESS GROWS. The business community of CedarCity has an increase in sales and revenue of over 10 percent, a recent report states. Indicative of the growth is construction con-struction around town, as shown. Utah as a whole saw 14 percent growth This shift is explained by the steady movement of population from the city into the county along with the construction con-struction of large shopping centers in the surburban areas. Completion of the downtown shopping mall in Salt Lake City has slowed down the movement of business from the city to the county somewhat but has failed to reverse the trend. |