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Show Utah Foundation reports Iron County personal income lower than state, national averages same period. During the recent recession, Utah's adjusted personal income actually rose by 0.1 percent in 1974 and by 2.0 percent in 1975. For the nation as a whole, on the other hand, adjusted personal income was declining by 1.4 percent and by 0.6 percent during these same two recession years. The Foundation report points out that the better-than-average gains of recent years is a reversal of the experience of an earlier period. Personal income increases in Utah between 1963 and 1969 were well below the average for the nation. Utah's relative position among the fifty states slipped from 29th in 1963 to 40th in 1969. Per capita income was about 10 percent below the U. S. average in 1963. By 1969 it had skidded to more than 20 percent below the national average. Although the Utah economy currently appears to be stronger than that of the nation as a whole, the state still lags far behind the U. S. average in per capita income. During 1976, Utah's per capita income was 14.9 percent below the U. S. average of $6,441. This record, however, is a decided improvement over 1969 when per capita income in Utah was 20.3 percent below the national average. Utah's relative ranking among the fifty states has improved from 42nd in 1974 to 35th in 1976. Foundation analysts point out that one factor accounting ac-counting for Utah's relatively low postion in per capita income is the large family size in the state. When personal income is related to the number of households rather than the number of individuals, personal income per household is found to be only about 5Vi percent below the U. S. average. The study emphasizes," however, that the larger family size in Utah results in greater needs, especially in . the area of providing governmental services. For example, the larger family size means more children to be educated and consequently con-sequently a greater burden for the schools. Utah leads the entire nation in the proportion of its total state and local expenditures going for public education. Currently, education accounts ac-counts for more than half of all state and local spending within Utah, compared with 38 percent for the nation as a whole. Personal income in Iron County during 1975 averaged $4,134 per capita, compared with $4,938 for the state as a whole and $5,903 for the nation. Between 1969 and 1975, per capita income in Iron County increased by 56.4 percent, while per capita income was rising by 66.0 percent throughout the state and by 58.1 percent in the nation. These were some of the facts reported by Utah Foundation, the private research organization, in its latest analysis of personal income trends in Utah and the nation. The report notes that during the 1970's personal income in Utah has been rising at a much faster pace than that recorded for the nation as a whole. Furthermore, Fur-thermore, Utah was notas adversely affected by the recent recession as most other states. Preliminary data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce indicate that personal income throughout Utah during 1976 totaled $6, 731, OOp. 000. This represents an increase of $777 million, or 13.1 percent over the 1975 total. By comparison, the gain in personal income in the nation amounted to 9.9 percent last year. After an adjustment is made for the inflation the effective gain in "real income" last year amounted to 6.9 percent in Utah, compared to 3.9 percent for the U. S. According to the Foundation Foun-dation study, personal income in-come in Utah between 1969 and 1976 increased at an average rate of 4.8 percent per year after adjustment for inflation. Nationally, the rise in adjusted personal income averaged only 2.5 percent per year in this |