North Carolina needs an economy that works for all and ensures broadly shared prosperity. That means creating jobs that pay workers enough to afford the basics for themselves and their families—enough to buy groceries, pay the rent, put gas in the car, and keep their children in day care. Unfortunately, the jobs that paid decent wages are largely vanishing, as low-wage service jobs replace the manufacturing positions that once provided generations of North Carolinians with vital pathways to the middle class. This trend has only accelerated since the end of the Great Recession.
Raising the minimum wage in North Carolina provides a critical antidote to the ongoing boom in low-wage work. The state’s current minimum wage is identical to the nation’s wage at $7.25 an hour. But our elected officials have the opportunity to join a growing list of state governments— including Arkansas, Nebraska, Alaska, South Dakota, New York, and California—that have recently acted to raise the wage floor for employers within their jurisdictions. These states have recognized that the current national minimum wage simply doesn’t pay enough to make ends meet, and that by raising their own wage floors they can help workers and boost their overall economies. Joining this movement will benefit North Carolina’s businesses, help workers, and boost the state’s overall economy.
In Washington state, a single parent with two kids working full-time at a minimum wage job has an income below the federal poverty level and far below what’s needed to meet the rising costs of basic necessities. (1) Raising the statewide minimum wage to $13.50 through Initiative 1433 on the November ballot will help change this and is an important step toward ensuring that all of Washington’s kids and families have the opportunity to thrive.
A higher wage would help reduce poverty – something that is desperately needed right now. Child poverty in Washington increased nearly 30 percent between 2008 and 2014, with an additional 59,000 children growing up poor, according to KIDS COUNT. Even more troubling, only 31 percent of Black children, 31 percent of Latino children, and 26 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native children live in economically secure households (which is defined as 200 percent of the federal poverty line, or a $40,320 income for a family of three).
Raising the minimum wage to $13.50 would improve the lives of these struggling Washington families. More than 360,000 Washington kids currently live in families where one or more parents make less than $13.50 per hour. (2) The proposed minimum wage increase would make a big difference for these families, providing an additional $700 per month for the average worker to help make ends meet.
Further, raising the wage would increase the incomes of tens of thousands of families of color who are disproportionately likely to struggle economically as a result of historically racist policies that have excluded them from opportunities for jobs, education, homeownership, and more.
This report explores the impact of wage increases on statewide economic activity through a study of the potential impacts of increasing wages for state-paid home care workers in Washington state to $15 per hour. The report also analyzes the potential local economic impact of this wage increase on five counties: Adams, Clark, Cowlitz, King, and Spokane. In Washington state, public home care workers are paid through the state Medicaid program to provide support for seniors and people with disabilities to remain in their homes. Home care is provided either by an individual worker who directly contracts with the state, known as an “individual provider,” or workers hired by private home care agencies. The analysis in this report focuses on the 34,686 state-paid individual provider home care workers for which detailed wage data is readily available from Service Employees International Union 775, the union that represents these workers. A $15 minimum wage for home care workers would impact 81 percent of the state’s individual provider workforce. The economic analysis in this report is focused on the impact and projected spending on workers – for wage increases up to $15 per hour.
This November, Maine voters will consider a ballot question that would raise the state minimum wage incrementally to $12 an hour by 2020 and gradually increase the subminimum wage for tipped workers until it equals the minimum wage for non-tipped workers by 2026. The Maine Center for Economic Policy analyzed the potential immediate and longterm impacts of this ballot initiative and concludes that raising Maine’s minimum wage will have positive net impacts for workers, businesses, and Maine families.