Logan » Sharing a split-screen with images as diverse as Holsteins, and hikers and fly-fishermen recreating in Logan Canyon, Mayor Randy Watts told the world that prudent business practices and a multilayered economy are why the Cache Valley is faring well in the recession.
Watts was featured last week on the CNBC news series "Beating the Odds: Cities Surviving and Thriving." His appearance was prompted by a Labor Department report that showed Logan's unemployment rate of 2.8 in December was the second-lowest among 369 U.S. metro areas (Provo-Orem and Salt Lake City were in the top 15).
Although Logan's rate is up to 3.2 percent today, a CNBC news anchor led the discussion with Watts with the assertion that "cheese and cows" are the bread and butter that have put the community's jobless numbers well below the U.S. unemployment rate of 7.6 percent.
Watts, speaking off the cuff, also praised the economic impact of Utah State University.
"Cheese and cows are a major part of what keeps us going," Watts said, but "we have a multifaceted employee base that comes from the university and students."
Beyond the TV lights and cameras, though, there also is a sobering side to employment in the Cache Valley. While agreeing with the mayor's assessment, Department of Workforce Services spokesman Ted Nyman told The Salt Lake Tribune that Logan isn't immune to the effects of the recession.
"There is a huge increase in the volume of clients we're seeing -- more than double what we were last year," Nyman said of the department's Employment Center. "One year or 18 months ago, we had trouble finding people to fill jobs."
Today, business closures and significant layoffs in Cache County have created greater competition for fewer jobs, Nyman said. Many clients are taking lower-paying jobs -- for which they are overeducated and overqualified -- just to make ends meet.
Yet several businesses have flourished.
YESCO Electronics in Logan has 270 employees and is regularly hiring. Chris Record, controller of the company's Logan Division, said 2008 was the digital sign-manufacturing division's strongest year financially.
"We've definitely geared up in our sales department and we're more actively targeting different markets," Record said.
Signs of success in Cache Valley make the U.S. government's proposed stimulus plan difficult for Mayor Watts to embrace.
He told his CNBC interviewer: "I'm a little frustrated with the package because you put in the effort to run good businesses and stay close to the bottom line to work on a profit margin … and so many haven't done that. That affects all of us as taxpayers.
"We've been very prudent in Cache Valley. The businesspeople have been very successful and they have years and years of success because of it."
