Years ago, when I worked as a management accountant in Germany, I learned something numbers alone can’t show: balance sheets don’t capture human dignity. Now, as a professor of human resources, I see how that truth still applies, especially in Utah, where economic growth and worker well-being don’t always align.
Utah’s economy is booming. We’re proud of our low unemployment rate, our innovation and our business-friendly environment. But for too many Utahns, the math of daily life no longer adds up. Our minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour, the same as it was in 2009. Inflation has risen about 40 percent since then, while housing costs in Salt Lake City have climbed nearly 200 percent over the past two decades, creating a strain felt by thousands of working families, according to a 2022 Utah Public Radio analysis.
That gap isn’t just a statistic. It’s a reality lived by people working full-time yet struggling to keep up. A worker earning $7.25 an hour brings home about $15,000 a year — barely enough to cover rent in most Utah cities, let alone groceries or childcare. I’ve spent my career studying both numbers and people, and I know an equation that doesn’t work when I see one…