how deep or how long the likely recession will be. What is certain is that some places will suffer more than others. So far Utah, a state best-known for Mormonism and pretty rocks, is looking unusually healthy. “We’ve got a lot to be proud of,” says Jon Huntsman, the governor. “Certainly more than many

of our neighbours.” Indeed, Utah has more to be proud of than any other state in the West. In September its unemployment rate was just 3.5%—less than half of California’s and the second-lowest rate in the region after oil- and

gas-rich Wyoming. Last month the Milken Institute declared Provo, a sprawling settlement south of Salt Lake City, America’s best-performing city for technology output and job and wage growth. Salt Lake City

itself came third. Hardly a month goes by without Utah announcing a corporate relocation or a new factory. The state has

experienced a minor semiconductor boom in part because of its cheap, coal-fired power. Ogden, until

semiconductor [,semikən’dʌktə]n.〈物〉半导体;

recently a decaying railway town north of Salt Lake City, has quietly become the world centre of winter

sports equipment. Mike Dowse, who oversees brands such as Atomic and Salomon索罗门for Amer Sports, gives

three reasons: “the mountains, the mayor and the money”.

The mountains are the Rockies, which lure young workers who like to go skiing. The mayor is Matthew

Godfrey, a business-minded 有商业头脑的man who has aggressively recruited several companies to Ogden (Mr

Huntsman, a former chemicals executive, likes to work the phones, too). The money, which comes partly from the city and partly from the state, is a mixture of relocation grants and tax breaks tied to the creation of well-paying jobs.

Utah’s housing market is relatively healthy, largely because it did not heat up too much in the middle of

this decade. In August its foreclosure rate was lower than the national average. Nevada, Utah’s foreclosure

[fɔ:‘kləuʒə]n.丧失抵押品赎回权,排斥foreclosure rate 丧失抵押品赎偿权比率

neighbour to the west, had America’s highest rate of foreclosure filings, according to Realtytrac. RealtyTrac 房地产数据公司

California had the second-highest rate and Arizona the third. Colorado’s front range, which includes Denver, is also littered with abandoned houses. Such areas have suffered from sharply falling property prices, reduced consumer spending and job losses among construction workers.

Another, hidden, source of strength is Utah’s strange demography. Mormons tend to start families

demography [di:‘mɔɡrəfi]n.人口学, 人口统计学；种群统计学

young: the average Utah woman marries at just 22. That means the “echo boom”—the peak of childbearing by baby boomers—took place not around 1990, as in the rest of America, but ten years

childbearing [‘tʃaildbeəriŋ]n.分娩；boomer [‘bu:mə]n.赶往新兴地区安家的人；

earlier. One reason unemployment is rising across the West is that a wave of teenagers is crashing onto the job market. Utah, by contrast, has few teenagers and lots of productive people in their late twenties and early thirties. “The timing is pretty good for a recession,” says Pam Perlich of the University of Utah.

The “cultural thing”, as businessmen from out of state delicately refer to Mormonism, helps in other

ways. Utah’s almost universal conservatism makes for stable, consensual politics. It took the state

consensual [kən‘sensjuəl]adj.经双方同意的, 一致同意的make for有利于，致使

legislature just two days last month to plug a $272m hole in the budget. By contrast, California’s budget

was 85 days late. Nevada’s politicians are preparing for a nasty fiscal fight next year.

Mormons do not come to work nursing hangovers, and they are inclined to stay put in the promised land rather than pursue better-paying jobs elsewhere. Matthew Donthnier, who is hiring for a new Procter &

hangover [，hæŋ‘əuvə]n.宿醉(酒后醒来的头痛和不舒服)

Gamble plant, has only one complaint about the local workforce: it can be a little difficult to persuade

workforce [‘wə:kfɔ:s]n.全体员工；(国家或行业等)劳动力, 劳动大军, 劳动人口