This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Just about everyone has heard of studies that suggest the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
A new report by the Utah Foundation indicates that also appears to be the case in the Beehive State. Yet the study, which examined economic mobility among the state's residents, also noted there is a lot more upward movement among different income groups than most would suspect.
"A lot of income studies have looked at the growing income gap between the rich and the poor," said Laura Summers, a research analyst at the Utah Foundation. "The problem with many of those studies is that researchers were looking at just a snapshot of the data. They didn't look at what happens to individuals over time."
And from that perspective, the picture appears much different.
By one measure, roughly 77 percent of Utah taxpayers who were in the lowest income bracket in 1994 had moved up one or more notches by 2007, Summers noted in her report titled "Moving Up the Economic Ladder: An Analysis of Economic Mobility in Utah."
Looked at another way, though, the Utah Foundation found that one-third of the state's taxpayers were upwardly mobile while most of the rest were "riding the tide." That means they had higher incomes but not enough to move them into the next higher bracket.
"Compared with other states, the amount of income inequality that exists in Utah seems to be fairly low," Summers said. "And while the distribution of income among individuals may be unequal in any given year, that doesn't mean that it will be unequal over their lifetimes."
She explained that many of those with the lowest incomes are young people or in some cases new immigrants — people whose earnings power can be expected to improve over the years as their education or job skills improve.
In her research report, Summers indicated that many social scientists believe that income inequality is a problem for American society because it can lead to reduced individual welfare, poor population health and class tension.
Others argue it is a natural feature of any society that rewards workers' skill level with income, which means that such inequality can be mitigated by the opportunity for upward income mobility, she said.
Allison Rowland, director of research and budget at Voices for Utah Children, an advocacy organization that seeks to improve the lot of the state's children by helping them get a better start in life, questions some of the study's conclusions.
"I agree that economic mobility is important," Rowland said. "The study indicates that Utah's income inequality is fairly low but you have to ask compared to what."
Rowland pointed out the Utah Foundation study indicates that just over half of those whose incomes were among the state's lowest 20 percent saw their economic conditions improve over the study's 13-year period.
"But just under 50 percent didn't see their incomes improve. And to me, that's pretty scary," she said. "I just hope this study isn't taken the wrong way by state policymakers. I just hope they don't look at it and come to the conclusion that because there is some upward mobility in the state there is no reason to think about helping the poor."
Want to read the report?
Go to utahfoundation.org for more information.
The study was based upon state income tax data gathered by Matthew Lund, senior economist at the Utah Tax Commission. The study looked at data from 1994 through 2007. Although later data were available, that information wasn't used over concerns that the recession would unduly influence the numbers.