Idaho still stuck on low wages

In their annual Assets & Opportunity Scorecard survey, the Corporation for Enterprise Development found Idahoans aren’t very secure financially.

Overall, the state’s rank fell from 12th place to 21st place from last year. The survey found 45.5 percent of homeowners in the state are in “liquid asset poverty,” or living paycheck to paycheck.

Jessica Sotelo, executive director for policy advocacy group Partners for Prosperity, said the state’s wages, “are not able to help (Idahoans) pay expenses and create the kind of upward mobility that older generations had.”

The Assets & Oppurtunity Scorecard examines Americans’ ability to save and build wealth. Through her policy advocacy work, Sotelo finds the state needs to look at itself to help its people.

“We need to look at programs and we need to look at policies that enable them to save,” she said. “To have better paying jobs.”

At the Idaho Central Credit Union, branch manager Lacy Garton said a helpful tip to start saving is to track where every cent goes in a budget.

“Even if you start saving $5 a month, that’s better than zero,” Garton said.

You can find the complete survey results for Idaho here.