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The Governor's Office of Economic Development on Thursday said it had approved tax incentives for Boeing and two other companies that separately plan to create a total of 819 new jobs in Utah.
Boeing will get a $1.4 million tax credit from the state if it creates 104 manufacturing jobs at its factory near Salt Lake City International Airport over the next 20 years, according to GOED.
Robin McBride, a Boeing spokeswoman, said 575 people already work at the factory, "with an opportunity to grow in head count by 104 immediately." Final employment should be 679.
Boeing will pay at least 125 percent of Salt Lake County's average yearly wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage is $911 a week, or $47,342 a year. The company needs assembly mechanics, equipment operators, project managers and engineers, as well as other disciplines.
Wages over the life of the incentive should exceed $146 million. Boeing also will pay close to $5.5 million in new state taxes during the period, GOED said.
In March, Boeing said it would assemble horizontal tail fin stabilizers in Utah for its 787-9 Dreamliner passenger jets. An Italian company now makes the stabilizers for Boeing. The company chose to establish a second manufacturing location of its own in the state.
"We review suppliers' technical expertise and ensure that the right level of training and oversight is in place so that performance standards are met. Based on these criteria, Salt Lake City was our supplier of choice," McBride said in an email.
Instructure, a Sandy-based education software maker, will get a $1.9 million tax credit if it creates 655 new jobs in Utah over seven years.
Like Boeing, Instructure will pay average annual wages that are 125 percent of Salt Lake County's yearly annual wage. The wages will total about $235 million.
Instructure will pay more than $9.4 million in sales taxes over the period.
Right now, the company has 189 employees housed in an office building at 9020 Sandy Parkway. Instructure will move to a larger building in Cottonwood Heights next year to accommodate the new employees it is already hiring.
"Quite simply, we are growing because our customer demand continues to increase. Just in the last two years, we've gone from zero customers to over 270 academic institutions," said Josh Coates, Instructure's chief executive officer.
The company has been hiring about 15 employees a month. Most are customer-support people, software implementation managers and engineers.
"If we continue at the pace, we are on — and there is no end in sight — we will be hiring many more hundreds of employees to keep up with business plans," Coates said.
Orbit Irrigation Products has agreed to move 60 jobs to Utah from Asia to its North Salt Lake manufacturing site in the next 15 years. In return, the company will receive a $2.4 million tax credit from the state. Most of the jobs will be moved within five years.
Wages over the lifetime of the agreement will total more than $68 million. The employees will earn 125 percent of the average Davis County annual yearly wage. The average county wage is $763 a week, or $39,676 a year, according to the BLS.
Orbit also will pay $22.2 million in new state taxes, GOED said.
Mitch Lord, Orbit's marketing director, said 300 people already work in North Salt Lake, including finance, sales and marketing people, engineers and product development specialists. Most of the new jobs will be in manufacturing to support a new product line, he said.
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