Report finds economic insecurity in Utah high

Nearly one in five Utahns suffered severe financial losses in 2010, underscoring a high level of insecurity in the state, even though the economy is slowly improving, according to a Rockefeller Foundation report released Friday.

The foundation said an estimated 379,000 residents — nearly 14 percent of Utah’s population — saw their "available household income" fall by at least 25 percent from 2009 to 2010 and didn’t have a financial safety net adequate to replace the lost income.

Available household income is what’s left after paying for medical care and servicing debt. Bad as Utah’s situation was, 20 other states were worse off, with Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and Georgia having the highest levels of economic insecurity. Nationally, the average level of economic insecurity was 20.2 percent, compared to Utah’s 19.3 percent. Salt Lake Tribune