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Schweitzer calls Idaho 'simpler' for business

 - STATESMAN STAFF

Published: 11/18/08


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Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories of Pullman says it would consider an expansion in Idaho, though it has no immediate plan to do so.

"Idaho is a little simpler to do business in, so it's attractive," said Edmund O. Schweitzer, founder and chief executive officer, to a group of legislators touring northern Idaho.

Idaho can attract companies like SEL by focusing on its business climate, not incentives for specific enterprises, Schweitzer said. That means keeping taxes low and making it affordable to build homes as the state invests in roads and transportation, he said.

About 500 of the 1,200 people who work at the Pullman lab live in Idaho. The company designs, manufactures and services computerized equipment that protects, controls, automates and meters electrical power systems. SEL's lowest-paid employees are assemblers who receive $10 per hour along with family medical insurance and other benefits.

The company has 171 job openings now, Schweitzer said: "At a time when everyone is crying in their beer about unemployment, here it's a different story."

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