The United States last month, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While wages and jobs are growing in the Mountain West, they aren鈥檛 outpacing the skyrocketing cost of housing.
鈥淥ver the past year or so, we鈥檝e seen average wages grow by about 4% here in Utah,鈥� said Juliette Tennert, chief economist at the Ken C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. 鈥淣ow, the median housing price has grown by over 8%.鈥�
However, the gap between housing costs and wage growth should begin to shrink in the near future, according to Tennert. Construction, tech and healthcare are among the region鈥檚 fastest growing sectors. Workers can expect to pull in a week in average wages.
But most of these new jobs are concentrated in the Mountain West鈥檚 urban areas, such as Boise, Denver and the Wasatch Front. According to Tennert, the rural West is a different story.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not really seeing that pace of growth,鈥� she said. 鈥淚n fact, in some areas we鈥檙e seeing declines.鈥�
Tennert said some rural counties have fewer jobs now than they did prior to the Great Recession, which began in 2007.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada, the O鈥機onnor Ce
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