Buchanan & Edwards to open new office, add 50 jobs in Pocatello

Thursday was the 25th annual Bannock County Economic Development Symposium.

At the beginning of the symposium, Mayor Brian Blad announced that Buchanan & Edwards will be coming to Pocatello.

Buchanan & Edwards is a data processing, analysis, and cyber security company. They work closely with the FBI and will be contracting to work with the new FBI regional office that’s also coming to Pocatello.

The company would havae around 50 employees in Pocatello and starting wages will be about $60,000 per year.

It’s separate from the new field office, which is bringing around 300 to 500 jobs.

“We’ve heard for years that we need to start getting high-tech companies to Pocatello and to our region and this is one of those companies that is very high-tech,” Blad said. “They do everything that we need them to do, their wages are very good, it’s 50 more employees. It’s a great win for our region.”

The announcement fit perfectly with the goal of the symposium, which was bringing more skilled workers to Idaho’s labor force.
The Bannock development board said the challenge locally is that unemployment numbers are very low. John Regetz, director of the board, said while that’s a good thing, it makes it tough for companies to find qualified workers. Regetz said the region needs to encourage more Idahoans to remain in-state for work. The board feels educating training younger generations for what jobs are out there is key. “Getting surveys, getting out into the schools and teaching students about the career opportunities that are avialable, and then the type of curriculum they need to take, it’s very important because it’s relevant,” Regetz said. One program the state is currently working on to promote jobs in engineering, science and other tech careers is Your-Fit Technology. The board announced Thursday the program has increased interest in those careers by 20% since last year.