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 Sit ■ sift •ftil a 4 -I i\ 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