Economy

OGDEN — When Dave Weloth started as a police officer 20 years ago, he would have liked to have had the information he’s providing today. Weloth now heads the Ogden Police Real Time Crime Center, a small room of computers in the city’s Public Safety Building.

Screens covering two walls show dispatch feeds and live surveillance feeds from public areas around the city.

The screens also feature maps marked with crime data — such as where the most burglaries have occurred and where parolees convicted of burglary are in relation to those hot spots, so officers know where to patrol and who they can talk to for information.

OGDEN — It may be the land and business that is already here that shapes the economic growth of the Top of Utah, not what new industry is yet to come.

While Weber County officials are looking to develop an agritourism ordinance directed at diversifying a farm’s income through broadening its offerings and adding value to its products, Davis County economic gurus are marshaling resources to preserve strategically located land banks that can be used to provide space to existing businesses needing to expand.

Weber and Davis county economic officials share the same belief that it is government’s role to facilitate commercial growth, not pay for it.

In today’s fast-paced business world, no one’s going to give us permission to engage in self-improvement, a strategy that is essential to our future success.

We can’t wait for circumstances or someone else to improve us. We must take the initiative. To improve our business, we must improve ourselves. Gone are the days of the artisan, when one could learn a craft and put it into action for a lifetime. To grow in our careers today requires us to keep learning long after our formal schooling ends. The more we are able to know and do, the more doors open to us and the more value we can offer our employers, employees and our business.

Continuous learning means we’re keeping our minds freshly stocked. This enables us to come up with more and better ideas and innovations, which every business needs to be successful. It also keeps us excited, motivated and highly engaged. We can’t be satisfied with “good enough,” because it never is.

In recent years, we have seen the economy move from manufacturing-based to service-based and then to more information technology-based, with globalization of business trending a sure path along the way. New and creative business models are being developed every day, many of them centered on reducing the need for large volumes of inventory and large workforces.

Looking ahead, there is little doubt that “change” will be the No. 1 business axiom, with “creativity” following closely. Businesses will redefine themselves over shorter periods of time than ever before, and new and creative business models will mark the way.

Many employers will turn to short-term employment contracts and hire temporary and freelance workers instead of the traditional employment model of full-time “permanent” jobs. If we understand where the economy is going and the nature of jobs in the future, we can understand how to best prepare ourselves for the new economy.

OGDEN — The hot jobs in the immediate future will be electronic or medical, job forecasters say.

“Health care is, of course, the area that is the strongest, with the aging of the baby boomers,” says Jim Robson, a state economist with the Workforce Resource and Analysis section of the Utah Department of Workforce Services.

“Baby boomers just started to retire last year. That big cohort will be retiring for the next 20 years. Even without them, the health/medical sector has been as strong as technology.”

PHOENIX — Phoenix’s golf program is stuck in a virtual sand trap with its six golf courses having accumulated a $14.8 million deficit, according to a new report.

The Arizona Republic reports that the recent city report blamed the deficit on the diminishing popularity of golf nationwide and the slowing economy.