ALICE update: Wage growth no match for inflation

COEUR d'ALENE — More than 300,000 households in Idaho were living paycheck to paycheck from 2021 to 2022 according to the United Way of North Idaho and its research partner United For ALICE. 

That calculation includes the 76,202 Idaho households in poverty as well as another 227,003 defined as ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), earning above the Federal Poverty Level but less than what’s needed to survive in the current economy.

Though wages for the lowest paid jobs have risen across the country at the fastest rate in four decades, the number of households struggling to get by in Idaho grew by more than 8,600 from 2021 to 2022, a press release said.