A fair day's work won't necessarily net a fair day's pay in southern Utah, says Alan Hamlin, a Southern Utah University professor.
The cost of living in St. George is 100 percent of the national average, while in Cedar City it's about 94 percent. But wages in the southern Utah cities only amount to 72 percent of national standards, he said."You get 100 percent work from a guy, he's worth $50 and you pay him $10," Hamlin said. "It's stealing. If you get a fair day's work, you should pay a fair day's pay."
For example, Hamlin points out that the average wage in the manufacturing industry is $11.08 per hour.
In Washington County, workers make a scant $7.50 an hour even though they are just as qualified and educated, he said.
The low wages are hitting Utah families harder than others around the nation, he says.
"More women have gone to work outside the home in Utah than the national average," Hamlin said. "One of the main reasons is husbands don't make much money."
However, women are paid only 65 cents for every $1 a man earns, Hamlin said.
Likewise, more teenagers work in Utah than the national average, he said.
But because families in Utah tend to be larger than the national average - by half - it costs more to buy school clothes, pay doctor bills and stock the shelves with groceries.
The low unemployment rate of 3.5 percent to 4 percent in Utah, he said, makes virtually no difference to the struggling family.
And Hamlin believes the situation won't improve any time soon. He said that's because employers have no trouble finding laborers with the influx of new residents. In turn, they feel no pressure to raise salaries.
"We can't create jobs fast enough," he said. "For every 100 jobs we create, 1,000 people want to move here."
Some cities are trying to combat the problem, but it's hard, Hamlin acknowledged.
Within the past six months, every business owner who relocated his or her operation to Cedar City had to sign a written contract agreeing to pay employees 20 percent higher than the prevailing wage.
"It's no problem - they're still paying 30 percent below what they would pay elsewhere," Hamlin said.