Corin Kealoha and Shaun Karagory both work full time – but cannot afford food without the help of a food bank. “We can’t even live off our wages,” says Corin, 46, who works as a hotel receptionist. “That’s why we come here.” The couple are at St Vincent’s Food Pantry, in Reno, Nevada, where they have picked up cardboard boxes containing cereals, bread, milk, peanut butter, and some meat.

And their story offers a glimpse into the complicated reality behind the economic recovery lauded by President Donald Trump. In his January State of the Union, President Trump hailed the “great American comeback”, stating: “Jobs are booming. Incomes are soaring. Poverty is plummeting… the years of economic decay are over.”

It’s a narrative he hopes will help him win November’s presidential race – including in Nevada, a swing state that supported Hillary Clinton by a margin of just 2% in 2016. The western state, home to Las Vegas, was one of the worst hit by the 2008 financial crisis. House prices dropped up to 60%, unemployment soared to 14%, and the state had the highest number of home foreclosures nationwide. More than a decade on, Nevada’s home values have recovered, the state came first for job growth in the US in 2018, and unemployment now hovers at a 20-year low of 3.8%. But to get a sense of some of the limits of the recovery, you only have to take a walk in downtown Reno.

Down North Virginia Street, there are glittery high-rise hotels and casinos, river walkways, and tourists taking selfies at the iconic Reno Arch, which proudly welcomes visitors to “the biggest little city in the world”.(BBC)…[+]