Bill would raise minimum wage

Some state legislators again are trying to help workers in North Carolina by proposing a $3 increase in minimum wage.

Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, introduced Tuesday the Living Wage Act, which would be the first raise since the federal government established the rate in 1997 at $5.15 per hour.

The bill calls for an increase of the current $5.15 minimum wage to $6.15 by September, $7.15 by Labor Day 2006 and a final increase to $8.50 by Labor Day 2007.

“People are hurting,” Adams said. “They’re working hard, and working hard is not enough anymore. … We have to do what is necessary to help our citizens.”

Adams has introduced similar bills in the past without success.

The bill, now in committee, has met opposition from several Republicans.

“The idea of everybody making more money sounds great, but it doesn’t work under economic standards,” said Rep. Bill Daughtridge, R-Nash. “As wages increase, businesses move more toward technology so that they don’t have to pay for more workers.”

Raising the minimum wage would make North Carolina less competitive, Daughtridge said.

“New businesses looking to move into the region will see that they have to pay North Carolinians more than people in other states, so why would they want to move here?”

Some opponents of the bill said the state should not intervene in minimum wage standards, leaving North Carolina’s wage on par with the federal rate.

“This is a federal issue, and it should be addressed on the federal level,” said Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Greene. “The state should not get involved. We don’t need 50 different minimum wages across the country.”

But some proponents of wage increases say this raise would be a step in the right direction.

“There is a huge proportion of people who are in poverty, and even those who aren’t in poverty still don’t have enough to make ends meet,” said Rob Schofield, policy director at the N.C Justice and Community Development Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting poverty.

The center published a report in 2003 titled, “Working Hard Is Still Not Enough,” which stated that the average family in North Carolina needs a minimum wage of $10.60 an hour to meet basic family needs.

But some experts said raising the minimum wage will hurt the state more than it will help.

“When minimum wage goes up, the number of workers becomes less,” said David Blau, professor of economics at UNC.

“When the minimum goes up, some kinds of workers, generally low-skill workers, are more expensive,” he said. “Therefore, firms hire fewer people or they layoff more people.”

Daughtridge also warned about raising wages.

“The problems with raising minimum wage are more detrimental to workers and businesses than you think,” he said. “We’re actually hurting the people we need to be helping.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.