Utah's poverty rate rising, study shows
Low wages won't support living standard, group says
But a Utah think tank and advocacy group for low-income residents is painting a different picture.
"We're trying to show what is happening to low-income people in the state," said Heather Tritten of Utah Issues, which recently released a 90-page study.
The study found Utah's poverty rate to be 10.6 percent — based on poverty guidelines from the Department of Health and Human Services. That's up 1.2 percent since 2000. And while that isn't too surprising, given the recession in the interim, the study also found poverty decreased in many other states during the same period.
But the biggest problem the study found, Tritten said, was that wages in the state aren't sufficient to support a reasonable standard of living. Specifically, it found Utahns make an average of $12.20 per hour. To put that in perspective, it said that given the average price for a two-bedroom apartment, individuals need to earn $13.36 per hour to afford one without spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing. And while frugal living may make that possible for a worker with average pay, the 40 percent of workers who make less than $11.05 (the benchmark the study used for the minimum amount two parents need to earn to meet their basic needs) have a much harder time with housing, the report states.
Low wages and high housing prices, it said, have led to homelessness. A count during winter 2005, it reported, found 2,470 homeless people in shelters, although it did not compare that number to other years. But that number, it added, didn't include those in transitional housing, those who camp and those who live in cars.
Another problem in the state, it said, is that low-income households are far more likely to have health issues. It reported that low-income people, even though most of them are employed, are four times more likely to be uninsured, far less likely to have access to job-based coverage and are also more likely to have medical debt.
In addition, it said families in less-than-affordable housing move around more, making it harder to hold down jobs. And substandard housing, it found, makes children more likely to suffer from stunted growth, iron deficiency, asthma and lead poisoning — and they are more likely to miss time at school.
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