Monthly Archives: July 2020

Significant Statistics | How are the economic crisis and long-term trends affecting government jobs in Utah?

Written by: Staff

THERE HAS BEEN A sharp decline in government jobs since the pandemic began affecting Utah’s economy in March. From March to May, nearly 20,000 government jobs disappeared – a 7% decline. This is roughly proportional to the decrease in jobs overall – 6%. This contrasts with the previous recession, when jobs overall decreased 6% from 2008 to 2010 while government jobs actually increased by 3% over the same time period.[1] * Image from Utah Foundation, … Continued

Significant Statistics | Which area of the Wasatch Front has the highest income inequality?

Written by: Staff

Earlier this month, Utah Foundation held a Breakfast Briefing looking at income inequality. Utah Foundation has also dedicated multiple Significant Statistics posts to looking at how income inequality varies across the state. We found that urban counties in Utah have the same levels of inequality when compared to more-rural counties (though income baselines varied significantly). However, the broad analysis obscures some of the detail, showing wide variation in inequality among counties and regions. Similarly, looking … Continued

Utah Thrives Podcast | The Challenges of Income Inequality

Written by: Staff

This episode of Utah Thrives draws from our recent Breakfast Briefing on income inequality in Utah. The discussion with University of Utah professors looks especially at social mobility, health and education challenges in Salt Lake County.

Significant Statistics | Income Inequality in Utah: Urban Versus Rural

Written by: Staff

Income Inequality in Utah: Urban Versus Rural Last week, Utah Foundation held a Breakfast Briefing on income inequality in Utah. One question that the briefing didn’t address is what income inequality looks like off of the Wasatch Front. While last week’s Significant Statistic looked at inequality by county and region, this week’s post looks more directly at the urban/rural divide.[1] Utah Foundation sorted Utahns by urban and more-rural counties, dividing each into five evenly-sized groups … Continued

Significant Statistics | What’s the income distribution in your corner of Utah?

Written by: Staff

Income Inequality in Utah: Comparing Counties and Regions UTAH CAN CLAIM both one of the nation’s least unequal income distributions and one of the highest measures of social mobility. However, it has not been immune to national trends of growing income inequality. According to one of the panelists at a June 30 Utah Foundation Breakfast Briefing, the bottom 10% of income earners in Utah saw their real income decline between 1990 and 2014 and the … Continued