2023: A Raise & Paid Leave for NC

Currently, 30 states and Washington, D.C., have raised their minimum wages. Meanwhile, North Carolina workers have been stuck with a wage floor of $7.25 an hour and a $2.13 tipped hourly wage since 2008. As the cost of living continues to rise, these wages are not enough to afford basic necessities; the 2022 Living Income Standard for a household with one adult and one child is $24.25 an hour. NC Up Minimum Wages/No Subminimum or Exemptions (House Bill 620/Senate Bill 447) phases in a $ 15-an-hour minimum wage over a span of a few years, while phasing out the tipped minimum and eliminating exemptions for disabled and incarcerated workers.


Why wages? Why Now?

 

01.

Nearly 1 in 3 workers in NC earn a wage below the federal poverty line - the second worst in the nation.

02.

In North Carolina, more than half of working Black and Latino people would benefit from raising the wage to $15.

03.

According to the 2021 Living Income Standard, an average family with 2 adults & 2 kids need $16.75/hr per working parent to afford the basics.

04.

More than half of the jobs created since the late 2000s pay poverty wages.

 
 

Low wages hurt everyone and hurt our economy.

 
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Everyone needs a good paycheck and opportunities to prosper. We need more jobs that pay enough to afford the basics—put food on the table, gas in the car, a roof over our heads, childcare for our kids, and enough to save for retirement.

Bigger paychecks also mean higher sales and bigger profits for local businesses—creating a virtuous cycle that helps businesses hire more people, boost the economy, and provide the tax revenue to invest in our schools, roads, a great quality of life for our community.

 

That’s why a majority of people want to raise the minimum wage.

 
 
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Together, we are a broad, diverse group of working people and unions, community organizations, faith leaders, businesses, and policy advocates joined in common cause - we believe that all workers in NC deserve a living wage.

We are joining together across the state to raise the minimum wage to at least $15 an hour in 5 years. There is a national movement rising across the country to raise wages to $15 an hour, and from coast to coast, it has scored big wins in places like Maine, Arkansas, Nebraska, New York, California, and Seattle. Now is the time for North Carolina to take bold action to build upon this momentum and raise the minimum wage in our state.

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North Carolina deserves a raise.

 

Too many working people in North Carolina don’t get paid enough to afford the basics. At a time when productivity and profits are at an all time high, wages are at an all time low.