There Was Not A Needy Person Among Them
The Call For A Living Wage

KEY FACTS  

1. On July 24, 2009, the Federal Minimum Wage increased from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour. Currently, four states—George, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Wyoming—have state minimum wages lower than the Federal Minimum wage. Georgia and Wyoming have the lowest minimum wage at $5.15.

2. The lowest paid workers pay 10.7 percent of their income in state and local taxes, compare to only 7.1 percent for the wealthiest taxpayers.
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3. The 2008 version of the Living Income Standard finds that the typical North Carolina family with children must earn $41,184 annually – an amount equal to 201 percent of the federal poverty level – to afford the actual cost of seven essential expenses: housing, food, childcare, health care, transportation, other necessities and taxes.  To meet that level, the adults in the average family would need to earn a combined $19.80 per hour for every working hour of every week of the year.  For a single parent, this amount is 2.73 times greater than the state’s minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.

5. As a result of NC shift from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based one, decent-paying jobs were exported and replaced with low-wage, low-benefit service and retail jobs.

6. According to the national organization CFED, North Carolina “ranks in the

middle of the pack in terms of asset accumulation.” Because low-income working families tend to have fewer assets than more affluent ones, they are more vulnerable to unexpected events and less able to invest in their long-term growth.

7. Women account for 52% of people in families below the Living Income Standard, African-Americans comprise 23%, while children comprise 42%.

Sources: 

1. US Department of Labor, http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm
2. NC Justice Center, http://www.ncjustice.org/?q=node/155
3. NC Justice Center , “Making Ends Meet on Low Wages,” www.ncjustice.org/assets/library/1169_
   2008lisreportmar.pdf
4. http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/small_states/assessment/north_carolina.pdf  pg 15-16
5. http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/small_states/assessment/north_carolina.pdf  pg. 8-9
6. http://www.workingpoorfamilies.org/small_states/assessment/north_carolina.pdf   pg. 14
7. http://www.ncjustice.org/sites/default/files/2008%20LIS%20report%20%28Final%20March%2025%29.pdf pg. 12