News
Wednesday, September 25, 2013 • page 13
1968, workers barely above poverty line
MINIMUM WAGE RY THF Nl IMRFR.Q ^
Current minimum wage: $7.25
that allows the business to make money.”
Workers under 25 make up approxi
mately one-fifth of hourly paid workers
but account for about half of all workers
making minimum wage or less nation
wide. In the first quarter of 2013, the av
erage unemployment check in North Car
olina paid $298.90 per week. Working a
minimum wage job for 40 hours per week
equates to an income of $290 per week —
less than someone who is unemployed.
Since the minimum wage program
started in 1938, its overall decline in real
value is 20 percent since its all-time high
in 1968. It declined in real value 34 per
cent from 1978 to 1989, and 19 percent
from 1998 to 2006. Raising the mini
mum wage, Sonn said, helps stimulate the
economy by increasing purchasing power
and allowing workers to stay in steady em
ployment instead of circulating through
low wage employers, which costs each
company thousands of dollars to train and
hire new employees.
“The indexation proposal [for mini
mum wage] prevents the minimum wage
worker’s paycheck from eroding,” Dube
said.
Dube said it would be best to phase
in indexation policies over a number of
years instead of all at once. It would take a
couple of years of sharper increases to get
minimum wage indexed to match the cost
of living, and implementing these policies
gradually would not result in unemploy
ment, he said.
While minimum wage sits at one of its
lowest points in history, profitability for
U.S. companies is high.
“U. S. corporate profits have completely
recovered and are at an all-time high,”
Dube said.
This inequality in profits exacerbates
existing inequities in the wage earning
system.
“It’s a problem when policies tend to
amplify certain problems they’re supposed
to emolliate,” Dube said. §
■I
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sift
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Since 2007, low
point, the issue
TAHA WIHTH | Staff Photographer
■wage jobs have replaced middle class jobs. As minimum wage has become more of a talking
has earned its place in the political arena, especially in North Carolina.
“Tipped” employees: $2.13
■
Out of 2.2 million hourly paid workers in North
Carolina in 2012, 63,000 earned less than
^ minimum wage while 74,000 earned exactly
the minimum wage. The 137,000 hourly
paid workers earning minimum wage or
less make up 6.2 percent of the workforce.
y 2.9% — earning less than minimum wage
3.4% — earning exactly minimum wage
33.6%
MEN
Of the minimum wage
workers in North Carolina,
66.4 percent are women.
WOMEN
66.4%
In the United States, six
percent of women make
minimum wage, whereas
only three percent of
men make minimum wage.
The actual value of
minimum wage pay
has declined since its
inception. The peak
value of minimum
wage was in 1968. If
today’s minimum wage
were adjusted for
inflation, it would be
nearly $11.
At the end of 2012, there were 3.6 million hourly paid workers in the
United States making minimum wage. These 3.6 million workers make up
4.7 percent of the total 75.3 million hourly paid workers in the United States.
N,
Workers under 25 make
up about one-fifth of
50.6% — workers
under the age of 25
/
\
80.2%
all hourly paid workers,
, but account for
about half of hourly
paid workers making
minimum wage.
19.8% — workers
under the age of 25
\
49.4%
/
Unemployed residents of North Carolina were paid, on average,
$298.90 per week, which is more than the average full-time
minimum wage worker, who earns $290 per week.
INFORMATION COURTESY OF VVWW.BLS.GOV
KRISTEN CASE I Design Chief