- William Henry Harrison, who became ninth U.S. president,
in a campaign speech, 1840
Songwriters Gus Kahn and Raymond B. Egan put the old adage to music: "There's nothing surer: The rich get rich and the poor get poorer."
Utah's economy seems to bear that out. But the song's refrain - "Ain't we got fun!" - is less apt in describing the situation of Utah's growing number of poor. As Utah basks in its lowest unemployment rate ever, 2.9 percent at last count, the number who live in poverty climbed to 10.2 percent from 9.4 percent five years ago.
A family of four with an income of $20,650 or less is defined as poor. Eleven of Utah's 29 counties have more of them than the nation's average of 13.3 percent. San Juan County's poverty rate is nearly triple the national average.
Other statistics are working against low-wage workers: Housing prices have increased more than 167 percent since 1985, while average household income has grown at just over half that rate in the same period. Many people working full time can't afford rent.
Utah's poor face even more of a health-care crisis than their richer neighbors. The number of uninsured children has gone up 26 percent in five years, and few low-age workers have health insurance.
When you put human faces on those statistics, they are mostly white, but minority groups are over-represented compared to their numbers.
We keep patting ourselves on the back because our economy is healthy, but that good health is coming too much on the backs of the underemployed and those who work for minimum wage, or near it. They're doing much of the heavy lifting to keep Utah's prosperity above most of the rest of the country, and it's breaking many of them.
The state should support, not prohibit, city and county efforts to require government contractors to pay living wages. Cities should zone for and require affordable housing - housing the poor can afford - in new developments. Congress and the state should provide housing assistance that reaches more poor families.
Our economy depends on the working poor, and they deserve our help.
