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Jobs Created In Price Lift Spirits

HealthEquity

HealthEquity hired 28 benefited and permanent positions in Price, a town of 8,500 residents. Unemployment in the county is at 5.6 percent, according to Bureau of Labor statistics. The state unemployment rate is 3.4 percent.

Price employee Trina Hickman said she and her husband struggle to keep afloat financially.

“It’s been a rough couple of years. I was really having a hard time seeing that light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. “As soon as (HealthEquity) gave me this amazing opportunity and told me about all the benefits for working for HealthEquity, these are happy tears, they really are. I just felt all this weight had been lifted off me. A million words couldn’t describe how grateful I was because you just don’t get that in Price.”

Newly hired employees say the closure of the coal mines, along with the termination of the county’s power plants, had a devastating negative impact on their communities. Employee Casey Pritt predicts the company could save the county’s economy.

“I think HealthEquity coming to Carbon County is exactly what we all need," Pritt said. "Everybody is so extended. Everybody is jobless and losing hope. HealthEquity just brings hope on so many levels.”