Jack Haskins

Barbara Presnell

UWRT 1104

23 April 2019

The Minimum Wage Controversy in North Carolina

In American society that we live in today, nothing is more important to most people than

family. Families are the key to life and are the drive behind some people's work ethics, but this

comes at a cost due to the minimum wage. In order to make ends meet for their families, some

parents have to work lots of hours at their job or have to get a second job to make ends meet for

their family. As a growing society, Americans need to take a step back and put themselves in the

shoes of an individual who makes minimum wage and is raising a family. As a result of this, I

believe we need to raise the minimum wage to an agreeable amount so citizens don’t feel the

need to be away from their families, but at the same time, feel the need to further either

education to obtain better salaries and careers.

Background Information

The minimum wage has been a key part of the American economy ever since it was

introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the late

1930s, it set a standard of what employers could pay their employees for the work they do. It also

made it fair for workers not be fired because someone else could do their same job for less. Even

though the government first implemented the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, “Oklahoma

became the first state to enact minimum wage legislation” in 1937(History of the Minimum
Wage). Even though this law was turned down by the legislation when it was brought up in a

supreme court ruling. The concept of adding in a minimum wage was not turned down, it was

only turned down due to “the language used in the law”(History of the Minimum Wage). With

the addition of the first law of adding a national minimum wage, it would help the economy

grow with our growing society. For example, as time went on and the worth of a dollar went up,

this called for new minimum wages required to meet the demand of the rising economy. This is

why Congress has increased the minimum wage a whopping twenty-two times over the past

eighty years to help Americans meet the demands of the economy. With that in mind, there has

not been an increase in the minimum wage since “2009 when it went from $6.55 to $7.25 an

hour”(History of the Oklahoma Wage). The government needs to weigh in the pros and the cons

of raising the national minimum wage.

Pros of Raising North Carolina’s Minimum Wage (Pro 1,4)

In North Carolina, this state does not have any laws to higher the minimum wage from

the national minimum wage set back in 2009. Some of the reasons why North Carolina should

raise our states minimum wage law is because, the minimum wage has not kept up with the

inflation of the dollar, increase economic activity and reduce stress. Since we haven’t had an

increase in the minimum and the “purchasing power” has increased (Should the Federal

Minimum Wage Be Increased?). This has made Americans choose what they want more between

certain things because they won’t be afford everything they want on a minimum wage salary.

With our country growing and growing by the day, an increase in the minimum wage would

increase economic activity. This would incline Americans to go out and buy more goods. An

“increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1 billion net into the

economy and create 85,000 new jobs”(Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?). This
would help boost our economy even more than just increasing the minimum wage. Increasing the

minimum would ultimately help our growing country and help the American people live a more

relax and less stressful life worrying about money. If the fifteen dollar minimum wage was to be

put into place according to Matthew Desmond with The New York Times, “A $15 minimum

wage is an antidepressant. It is a sleep aid. A diet. A stress reliever”(Desmond).This would make

families less worried about working longer hours or working more than one job. Overall, a raise

to the minimum wage would give families more time with each other and let kids save more

money as they get ready for college or the next chapter of their lives.

Cons of Raising North Carolina’s Minimum Wage (Con 4,8)

There are many reasons why North Carolina should raise its minimum wage, but there

are also many reasons why North Carolina should keep the minimum wage the same as it is.

Some reason why I believe we should keep the minimum wage at what it is at is that it would

increase the price of consumer goods and make companies look more towards automated

processes to replace human workers. If we did increase the minimum wage, “fast-food

restaurants would pass on almost 100% of their increased labor costs on to consumers”(Should

the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?). This would result in an increase in all consumer

products just because, we raised the minimum wage. On the other side, if we had an increase in

the minimum wage, companies might be more inclined to use automated processes to replace

humans. For example, if you go to some of the new Mcdonald's locations in the United States,

you will notice new automated systems to take your order. As a result of an increase in the

minimum wage, some companies “might actually encourage firms to hire less labor...It’s easier,
or per perhaps more politically convenient”(Mitchell). With this in mind, people shouldn’t ask

for that much on an increase in the minimum wage because people might become obsolete.

Comparison between states around North Carolina

In the United States, every

state has to follow the national law that

is implemented on the minimum wage,

but states can make their own laws. For

example, since the cost of living in

California is a lot more expensive than

living in North Carolina, California’s government might be more inclined to make a state law

that raises their minimum wage law. In North Carolina, we have “17th lowest” personal income

out of the United States(Sauter). In comparison to states around us such as, Georgia, South

Carolina ,and Virginia, that have personal incomes coming in at “13th lowest” for Georgia, “8th

lowest” for South Carolina and “14th lowest” for Virginia(Sauter). As a result of these states

having lower personal incomes, it also means that these states should have a lower value of the

dollar in their state. For example, states such as Georgia and Virginia has a value of the dollar

that is actually below North Carolina, while South Carolina has a value of the dollar that one cent

more than North Carolina’s value. With all this in mind, shouldn’t North Carolina have a higher

minimum wage since it cost more to live in our state compared to states that border our state?
 Conclusion

While looking at all the information in this research process, I have obtained knowledge

of both the pros of raising the states minimum wage laws and the cons of raising it. I feel our

state’s legislation needs to find a compromise between the two and raise the minimum wage a

little so we don’t work the number of jobs available to people. As a growing society, we need to

notice that values of things are increasing over time and with such increases, we need to adjust

our minimum wage with that to benefit everyone in our society.

Works Cited

Desmond, Matthew. “The $15 Minimum Wage Doesn't Just Improve Lives. It Saves Them.” The

New York Times, The New York Times, 22 Feb. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/02/21/magazine/minimum-wage-saving-lives.html.
“History of the Minimum Wage.” ProCon.org, minimum-wage.procon.org/history-of-the-minimum-

wage/.

Mitchell, Daniel J. “Real-World Examples of How the Minimum Wage Harms Workers | Daniel J.

Mitchell.” FEE, Foundation for Economic Education, 20 Oct. 2018, fee.org/articles/real-world-

examples-of-how-the-minimum-wage-harms-workers/.

Sauter, Michael B. “Cost of Living: The Purchasing Power of a Dollar in Every State.” USA Today,

Gannett Satellite Information Network, 10 May 2018,

www.usatoday.com/story/money/economy/2018/05/10/cost-of-living-value-of-dollar-in-every-

state/34567549/.

“Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased? - Minimum Wage.” ProCon.org, minimum-

wage.procon.org/.