NEW REPORT HIGHLIGHTS UTAH'S LEADERSHIP IN THE $950 BILLION APP ECONOMY.

• Position: Around Utah

Washington, D.C -- UTAH APP developers and tech companies are key drivers of a thriving $950 billion app economy, according to a new report by ACT | The App Association.

The annual State of the App Economy report looks at the allen-compassing app ecosystem that results from software's integration into new business and consumer platforms. Today, apps serve as the driving interface for the connected devices, modern machines and internet of things (loT) innovations that enable us to engage with data from all aspects of our lives.

Contrary to the belief that Silicon Valley leads the app economy, the report finds that Utah contributes more than 50,530 app developers, computer programmers, engineers and teachers to the 4.7 million-American-strong computing workforce. On average, Utah's app economy jobs pay salaries upwards of $83,698, well above the state's annual average.

The report predicts the app economy will add more than 440,000 new jobs to the U.S. workforce over the next six years, with Utah's app economy workforce poised to grow 24.82 percent by 2024.

In addition to highlighting more than 100 innovators in Utah and across the country driving the app economy, the report identifies three issues that could challenge America's leadership role in the future.

Growing employment gap: For every eight available computing jobs, the U.S. produces just one computer science graduate.

* Last year, Utah awarded 2,315 computer science degrees--a little more than half of what's needed to...