Executive orders and increased living costs have challenged growth, military and business executives say.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) The South Gate entrance at Hill Air Force Base near Layton on Saturday, Feb. 22, 2025. The base’s workforce is expected to grow 30% over the next 20 years, a deputy commander said Tuesday.
Traffic has gotten worse in northern Utah in recent months.
That’s partially because many of the more than 20,000 employees at Hill Air Force Base — one of Utah’s largest employers — are driving to work again.
President Donald Trump’s executive order requiring federal employees to return to offices is “reshaping the way we use our workforce,” said Colonel Meghan Szwarc, deputy commander for 75th Air Base Wing.
“The aim is to foster collaboration and accountability through increased physical presence,” Szwarc said. “However, we recognize this change affects both our employees and our community partners, especially during the morning rush hour. We appreciate everyone’s patience as we adjust schedules, processes, traffic flows and programs to accommodate this shift.”
The return-to-work mandate is one of more than 100 executive orders Hill AFB is trying to respond to “rapidly … as quickly as they have been released,” Szwarc said.
Deferred resignation offers — from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — have given federal employees the opportunity to quit or retire early and take immediate leave. Workers taking that option, plus a hiring freeze, mean the base is adjusting to a slightly smaller, or at least stagnant, workforce.
It’s all happening in an “incredibly busy” year for the base, and at a time when the base is trying to modernize its workforce, Swarc told an audience at Ogden’s Union Station Tuesday. They were gathered for Acceler8 Wasatch, an aerospace and defense symposium/conference hosted by 47G.
“The work that we do has an immediate impact,” said Colonel Mickey Artolachipe, deputy commander for the Ogden Air Logistics Complex. “The airplanes that we maintain, repair, overhaul, modify … go directly to our war fighters who are conducting real-world operations across the globe in support of our national security objectives.”
That work, said Artolachipe, requires a workforce that it technologically advanced and well-trained — as the base’s next chapter includes it becoming a “digital depot,” an Air Force approach to modernizing its aging air logistics complexes.
A digital depot uses Industrial Internet of Things information, collected from sensors and devices, to track real-time data about capacity and work underway. AI helps guide preventative maintenance and analysis, according to an Air Force description.
To create this “ecosystem of enterprise technologies,” Artolachipe said, her unit is investing $11 billion in infrastructure improvements.
They include WiFi upgrades, warehouse automation and virtual reality training software, to support Hill’s workforce — which is expected to grow by more than 30% over the next two decades, she said.
The base also is building new physical infrastructure, including a new dock space for aircraft maintenance, more office space and a new gate on the northwest border, Szwarc said.
While President Donald Trump has proposed increasing defense spending by 13% to $1 trillion, Hill’s leaders didn’t discuss how that might provide a boost to Utah’s base.
Hill AFB is Utah’s sixth largest employer as of 2023, according to the state Department of Workforce Services. Its employees include graduates of Utah’s universities, active military personnel, and civilian employees from across the country.
Utah has, historically, been a great fit for aerospace and defense companies, military and business leaders said Tuesday. Szwarc, Artolachipe, and a separate panel of private defense contractors all lauded recent legislative wins, like a bill that allows spouses of civilian Department of Defense employees to work in Utah with licenses from other states.
Utah prioritizes STEM and even aerospace-specific training in public education through programs like Utah Aerospace Pathways. Culturally and politically, Utah “values’ aerospace and defense, said Gina Chinn, vice president of governmental affairs for Northrup Grumman.
“There’s just such an inclusive community when it comes to … wrapping our arms around aerospace and defense and the companies around here,” Chinn said.
But Utah is also getting more expensive, Chinn said. Private defense companies like Northrup Grumman are now having to reconcile their budgets with the rising costs of living, energy and water.
“I always used to joke… that Utah is kind of a cheap date,” Chinn said. “Our utilities are affordable. Our water is affordable. You can get land, and you can expand. That’s not a reality anymore.
“We’re not longer the cheap date. We’re married, and it’s getting expensive.”
Shannon Sollitt is a Report for America corps member covering business accountability and sustainability for The Salt Lake Tribune. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by clicking here.