....In 2003, Utah, a so-called "right to work" state, had the fifth-lowest rate of unionization in the nation among employed wage and salary workers. Only Arkansas, Mississippi and the Carolinas had fewer organized workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
....In 2003, Utah’s per capita income of $24,977 ranked fourth lowest in the nation, squeaking by Mississippi, West Virginia and Arkansas, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
With so many workers eking by, there isn’t much left over for frills-like public education. At $4,890, per-pupil spending is Utah’s perennial badge of shame-a category for which Mississippi (the backwater runner-up) could do no worse. And, as Morgan Quitno Press reports in its 2004 "Most Livable State" publication, Utah scored second-worst for its teacher-to-pupil ratio. (In 1995, Utah won the livability title hands down, but has since slid to 19th place.)
....15.2 percent of Utahns faced food insecurity in 2003 which, according to the famed USDA, places Utah at the bottom of the proverbial barrel, empty as it may be.
....Using stats from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Health Foundation reports that in 2003, just 58.4 percent of pregnant women in Utah received adequate prenatal care. Only North Dakota ranked worse. And Utah babies don’t get much more respect once they reach daylight. KSL News reported in July that Utah has one of the worst records in the nation for testing for newborn diseases.
....the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported in 2001 that Utah ranked fourth-worst among reporting states for the ratio of children to assessment workers, 1:243. Also, as a proportion of all types of abuse reported-either neglect, medical neglect, physical abuse or sexual abuse-Utah had the seventh-highest rate of reported sexual abuse, at 22.7 percent of all cases reported. What’s more, the state provided future preventive services to only 3.3 percent of those children reporting abuse, ranking it fourth worst in the nation.
.....Utah remains among the top 10 methamphetamine-producing states and, according to U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, Utah reigns supreme for its prevalence of "speed cookeries."
....Utah tops the nation in prescriptions for antidepressants. According to a 2002 study by Express Scripts Inc., a pharmacy-benefits-management firm, Utahns, per capita, pop the candy-coated devils at nearly twice the national pace.
.... At 42 concealed weapon permit-holders per 1,000 adult residents, Utah has the seventh-highest rate of heat-packing citizens, according to data from the Utah Bureau of Criminal Investigation and other sources.
Better to shoot women with. Or so it would seem. According to a recent report in the Deseret Morning News, Utah women are murdered by their male intimate partners at a clip 21 percent above the national average. Add to that Utah’s tragic distinction as the forcible rape capital of the nation. The National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center estimated in 2003 that 20.6 percent of Utah women had been victims of rape, more than in any other state.
....the state ranks 46th in the nation for equitably compensating women’s toils in the work force. According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, Utah women earn 70.3 cents to every dollar earned by a Utah man.
....Utah ranks first in personal bankruptcies, first in early-payment mortgage defaults (which indicates at least some fudging of the numbers on loan applications) and fifth in overall mortgage fraud. A casual reading of the daily papers indicates a possible cultural culprit. Just recently, the Deseret Morning News reported the arrest of two local boys who allegedly swindled $30 million or so from unsuspecting investors. Under the banner of "Operation Good Samaritan," one schemer targeted members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whom he convinced to invest in a slice of mortality-an imaginary $1.6 trillion trust created by the descendants of church founder Joseph Smith.
