Jared Daniels
Staff Writer
A recent research study, Wyoming’s 2020 Self Sufficiency Standard, concluded that Wyoming families struggle financially as the cost of living increases past the wages they are paid.
Since 2005, the cost of Albany County’s basic needs have increased at a rate of 59%, with the state average at 67% and the highest rate at 99% in Teton County, the study said. Despite this, Wyoming’s median wage increase has only risen 41% since 2005.
“The wages we came up with shows what it takes to survive,” said Annie Kucklick, the research coordinator at the Center for Women’s Welfare and contributor to The Self Sufficiency Standard.
Kucklick said cuts in someone’s budget may take the form of lesser healthcare, worse childcare or limited food.
“It’s tough because it means choosing between your basic needs,” Kucklick said.
The Self Sufficiency Standard is calculated from housing, childcare, food, transportation and healthcare. The standard also factors in emergency savings, taxes, tax credit and ‘miscellaneous’. Miscellaneous is taken as a 10% of all other costs and would be used for clothing, phones, toiletries and other items that may be considered essential.
“It’s not clear to me that this is true. If you look at the data from the Consumer Price Index, US wages adjusted for inflation adjusted for the cost of living are rising, faster than they have in decades,” said David Aaland, an associate professor and department chair for the University of Wyoming’s Department of Economics.
Using numbers from Sweetwater County, the study detailed that a single adult must make a minimum of $10.24 an hour to meet the costs of living defined by the Self Sufficiency Standard. This number is three dollars an hour more than the federal minimum wage. The addition of a child increases the minimum wage needed to $17.78 an hour, more than double the federal minimum wage.
“It is disturbing that wages for those at the bottom of the income distribution in Wyoming are not keeping up with the cost of living,” said Aaland.
Some economists’ suggests the government should regulate businesses when needed, and let the market work.
The study detailed the most affordable areas in Wyoming as eastern, southwestern and central-north counties, where a single parent would only need to make an estimated minimum of $16.22 an hour. The most expensive counties were listed as highly populated areas within the central eastern part of the state, in which a single parent would need an estimated minimum of $18.39 an hour.
“It’s a betrayal of the American Dream,” said Kucklick.
The research report came from a partnership between the Wyoming Council for Women and the Wyoming Women’s Foundation. The report said the problems between wage and cost of living are not just seen in Wyoming, but are seen across America.
