Tucson Opinion: Time to Make Tucson a Shared Flat | Local editorials and opinion

The following is the author’s opinion and analysis:

As much as I love Tucson, I am dismayed that it is a high-poverty, low-wage, low-opportunity community.

If you’re wondering if this description is correct, then here are some facts:

Tucson’s 16.8% poverty rate is higher than the national average and higher than the poverty rate in 10 of the 11 cities that University of Arizona researchers compare Tucson with.

According to the Brookings Institution, half of the jobs in Tucson are low-wage jobs.

Adults who grow up in Tucson earn between $ 1,000 and $ 8,000 less each year than adults who grow up in 10 of the 11 comparison cities, as I documented in a report last year. In the race for economic success, Tucsonans start far behind people elsewhere.

(Note: “Tucson” in this column generally refers to the metropolitan statistical area of ​​Tucson, which is Pima County.)

These statistics are significant.

They mean that half of our workers every day cannot trust that they can provide their families with food or shelter. They mean that these workers have no resources to deal with even in small emergencies. They mean that too many mothers in particular cannot afford the childcare that enables them to return to work after the coronavirus has subsided.

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