But amid this wonderful news, we must remember that economic benefits do not reach everyone in our community at the same time, or with the same effect. We should be careful not to forget the growing number of working families and our many other vulnerable neighbors who have yet to experience the positive economic outcomes many of us enjoy.
There are still more than 200,000 Utahns living on incomes below the federal poverty level and many more just above that level who are also struggling economically.
The average income of the poorest 20 percent of Utah families ($19,500) is less than half of the average income for the state as a whole. And Utahns who earn the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour would need to work 101 hours per week, or have 2.5 minimum-wage earners in the household to afford the fair market rent on a two-bedroom apartment at 30 percent of their income.
Many of our neighbors are sleeping in permanent and temporary homeless shelters as they wait up to three years for an affordable apartment to become available. This past year, because of federal budget cuts, there were more than 1,000 fewer rent vouchers available for Utah's low-income renters and more than 28,000 families on waiting lists for rental assistance.
More than 300,000 of our fellow Utahns lack any health insurance at all, and many more have insurance that is inadequate to meet their needs. According to the National Institute of Medicine, the lack of health insurance places both the health and financial status of families in jeopardy and contributes to 18,000 preventable deaths each year.
Small and large employers are struggling to continue offering health insurance with costs that far exceed even the robust growth in overall incomes. The United States loses up to $130 billion each year "as a result of poor health and early deaths of uninsured adults," according to the institute.
Often, for workers in low-wage jobs, the very indicators of a robust economy make it more difficult to make ends meet. Uintah County, which has experienced tremendous economic growth, has experienced a 60 percent increase in emergency food requests. Overall food stamp and emergency food bank utilization in Utah increased by 7 percent last year.
Each year, United Way of Salt Lake opens up its Sub for Santa program after all of the other programs in the valley close because they are full. In 2005, the Salvation Army's program closed on Nov. 18. United Way of Salt Lake, with its partner, Volunteers of America, Utah, opened its program on Dec. 1 to assist those families living in poverty with holiday gifts for their children.
The 2005 numbers were staggering. In 2004, United Way of Salt Lake's program assisted 1,868 children. In 2005, we assisted 3,372 children, an increase of 80 percent year to year.
As we reflect and give thanks for the prosperity our state enjoys, we might also ask ourselves what it feels like to be on the outside looking in on the record-breaking good news. Imagine how it feels to work multiple jobs and still need to find time to go to a food bank or to choose between paying for rent or health insurance.
Consider the nagging weight of continuing to postpone a visit to the doctor for that worrisome pain or of not being able to afford a gift for a child's birthday.
Those who have yet to feel the benefits of our robust economic growth should not be forgotten as we begin the debate about how to spend record state surpluses. Our unique prosperity creates both the responsibility and the opportunity to improve economic opportunity for all families in Utah, to strengthen our educational and human infrastructure, and to rebuild the safety net that was so badly torn during the past recession.
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Deborah Bayle Nielsen is president and CEO of United Way of Salt Lake.
