Are Utah Wages Really 20% Behind the Nation?

None by KCPW

It's Experience Gap Rather Than Wage Gap, Economist Says

(KCPW News) Anyone who looks around in Utah can tell you we have a young, vigorous labor force. That bonus is reflected negatively, however, in a new U.S. Labor Department report that ranks Utah 40th among the states for its average weekly wage.

Mark Knold, senior economist for the State Department Of Workforce Services, says the state's unique demographics routinely drive down the statistical average of Utah's wages.

"Forty-seven percent of our labor force is 35 years of age or younger," he said. "We have more younger people who haven't had the tenure, the experience so to speak, earning our wage pie, and comparing that to the nation which has a much older labor force earning its wage pie."

Knold says that the wages of the higher-earning baby-boomer generation drive the national average. Not so here.

"The only reason [Utah workers are] earning less wages is because they're younger. It's more of an experience shortage than it is truly a wage shortage," he said.

The U.S. Labor Department report says Utah's wages trail the nation by 20 percent. Knold says Utah's larger proportion of part-time workers also helps water down Utah's average weekly wage.

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