Chapter Twelve
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The economic well-being of West Jordan’s economy is determined by the sum of its parts. Our workforce, businesses, jobs, retail establishments, local housing inventory, and many other factors work together to make up our local economy.
As population growth occurs, the make up of the City’s local economy is changing in ways that create new opportunities and new challenges alike. It is the intent of this chapter to illustrate the characteristics of the community that influence West Jordan’s economy. This task is accomplished in large part by using data to illuminate trends and compare our community to others in Utah.
This chapter also aims to provide insights critical for elected officials and staff to use as they work together to guide our economy toward sustainable outcomes under the pressure of rapid growth and new challenges.
Economic Development Vision
In order to guide our economy toward desired outcomes, West Jordan will develop, deploy, and refine a robust economic development strategy. This strategy will maintain energetic and passionate focus on business retention and expansion (BRE), real estate development and reuse, and new business attraction.
Through our intentional efforts in these three areas, we will catalyze new growth and investment, build long term vibrance, and create a brand and identity for the City as a place where businesses can thrive.
We will remain committed to understanding the unique needs of our business community by listening carefully. We will connect existing businesses with the resources and solutions they need to strengthen and expand, creating greater economic impact for the City. We will work to revitalize and redevelop older parts of the City by drawing new investments that will create new opportunities for recreation, retail, living, and employment.
We will work closely with land owners and developers to create new opportunities for existing and future residents to live, work, and recreate in West Jordan in a manner that creates a strong sense of place.
We will work intentionally to draw innovative and responsible businesses to West Jordan that offer employment opportunities across a diverse spectrum of industries.
Our success will include thoughtful focus on our areas of greatest economic opportunity including Jordan Landing, the City Center redevelopment project, and development of the Southwest Quadrant as a major employment center balanced with retail opportunities and affordable housing.
Labor Force
Labor force refers to the number of persons usually employed or willing to be employed in a specified area. Those who are actually engaged constitute the workforce. The difference between the labor force and the workforce is the unemployed labor force. Thus, workforce constitutes the employed labor force.
The available pool of labor for each of the six largest cities in the state is shown in Figure 12.1. Generally, the size of each City’s labor force matches its ranking in relation to the total residential population. With the 2020 Census, West Jordan’s population surpassed that of Provo, though West Jordan’s labor force is lagging that of Provo by roughly 4,000 laborers. This may be due, in part, to Provo’s large student population. It is expected that West Jordan’s rapid population growth will cause the City’s labor force to gain rapidly and eventually surpass that of Provo.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Because the workforce residing in all communities are typically mobile, inflow/ outflow of the workforce will impact the character of the community. Figure 12.2 illustrates the relationship between the regional workforce, jobs located inside and outside of the municipal boundaries, and the movement of workforce to fulfill those jobs.
The following can be seen in the graphic on the bottom of this page:
• 29,218 jobs in West Jordan are filled by regional workforce living outside of West Jordan’s municipal boundaries.
• 55,080 of West Jordan’s workforce is employed outside of the municipal boundary.
• Only 6,170 jobs are filled in West Jordan by West Jordan residents.
About 90% of West Jordan’s workforce commutes outside of the City limits to work and approximately 10% is employed within City limits, as shown in Table 12.2. When examining the seven largest cities in Utah, West Jordan has the smallest percentage of its population which is also employed in their city of residence (Figure 12.3). This inflow/ outflow analysis also illustrates that 10% of West Jordan’s workforce that stays in the community for work only fulfills about 10% of the jobs available by local employers. This data suggests that there is significant opportunity for future job growth in West Jordan to be supported by West Jordan’s resident workforce.
Looking outside of West Jordan’s municipal boundaries, the regional labor force is equally compelling for potential new employers to locate in West Jordan. West Jordan is centrally located in the Salt Lake County labor shed, giving access to a regional labor force of over 650,000 within a 10-mile radius of West Jordan’s geographic center.
The movement of the City’s workforce is likely a prominent factor in West Jordan’s mean commute time being significantly higher than that of cities of similar size in Utah. As indicated in Figure 12.4, the average West Jordan resident can expect to commute as much as six- and a-half minutes longer than Provo residents. According to the US. Census Bureau, West Jordan residents have a mean travel time to work of 24.8 minutes, which exceeds the county mean of 22.4 minutes and the state mean of 21.9 minutes. Though commute times typically increase with population growth, intentional creation of jobs within the City’s border can reduce traffic if jobs are matched to the qualifications of the workforce.
When comparing West Jordan to other cities by the percentage of local jobs fulfilled by local workforce, Figure 12.3 shows that West Jordan is last among Utah cities with large populations.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, On The Map (2019)
City | Percentage |
City | Percentage |
Salt Lake City | 23% |
West Jordan | 10% |
West Valley | 9% |
Sandy | 6% |
Murray | 6% |
South Jordan | 5% |
Draper | 5% |
Millcreek | 4% |
South Salt Lake | 4% |
Taylorsville | 3% |
Other | 25% |
Total | 100.00% |
Table 12.2 indicates that the majority of employees who work in West Jordan live in Salt Lake County. However, there is a great degree of variation between places of residence of these workers, with no single locality other than West Jordan, having a share greater than 10%.
Figure 12.5 shows the location and concentration of employment in West Jordan. We can see from this heat map the employment within the City is concentrated along Redwood Rd, along Bangerter Highway, and to the west in the industrial center.
Figure 12.6 shows the historic unemployment rate of West Jordan compared to that of Salt Lake County, the State of Utah, and the United States. The unemployment rate of West Jordan has typically moved in concert with both the national and statewide unemployment rate, although West Jordan has enjoyed overall lower rates of unemployment.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, On The Map (2019)
City | Percentage |
City | Percentage |
West Jordan | 16.5% |
West Valley | 8.8% |
Salt Lake City | 5.5% |
South Jordan | 5.3% |
Sandy | 4.7% |
Taylorsville | 4.7% |
Kearns | 4% |
Riverton | 3.6% |
Herriman | 3.2% |
Midvale | 2.4% |
Other | 41.2% |
Total
| 100.00% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Table 12.3 shows West Jordan’s unemployment rate as compared to other large cities in the state for 2021. Currently, West Jordan’s unemployment rate is lower than three of the six comparison cities with similar population.
Jobs to Housing
The jobs to housing ratio is used to illustrate the number of total jobs compared to the residential units located in the City. Ratios below one are typical for communities considered to be “bedroom communities”. West Jordan has recently passed this threshold.
Figure 12.7 demonstrates the jobs to housing ratio for the largest cities in the state, with each city having a ratio exceeding 1.0, with West Jordan being the lowest of the six. There are many potential implications of a low jobs to housing ratio, though the most obvious is economic. Residential units of low-moderate density result in a net expense to a municipality in the long term, whereas businesses generally result in net revenues in the long term.
As a means of creating a more economically sustainable community, the City should begin looking at ways to increase the jobs to housing ratio as a way to benefit the tax base, daytime population, and to provide more opportunities for people to live and work in the City.
At its foundation, the jobs to housing ratio is an illustration of existing land use dynamics. Efforts to change the direction of this ratio are therefore, a matter of guiding an appropriate portion of future land use toward non- residential uses. Given this, the City should take care to protect areas devoted to professional office and other non-residential uses such as education, manufacturing, and retail to increase the jobs to housing ratio and make land use percentages more consistent with similarly sized cities in Utah.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, On The Map (2019)
City | Percentage |
West Valley City | 1.9% |
Salt Lake City | 1.7% |
Sandy | 1.6% |
West Jordan | 1.5% |
Orem | 1.4% |
Provo | 1.2% |
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Opportunities for increasing employment in the City will include land near transit stations, interchanges along Mountain View Corridor, Redwood Road, South Valley Regional Airport, Jordan Landing, and the Southwest Quadrant (SWQ) of the City.
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