Many officials and community groups across North Carolina say that instituting a living wage—an hourly pay rate that supports a minimally comfortable quality of life—would greatly ease the struggles of the state’s working poor. But business interest groups and skeptical economists have stalled the efforts of most living wage supporters—except in Durham County.
As the only municipal governments that have implemented living wage ordinances in North Carolina, the City of Durham and Durham County have led the way in turning a living wage into a reality for the state’s working poor.
In June 2004, the Durham County Board of Commissioners set the county’s living wage at $9.74 per hour—about 7.5 percent above the federal poverty level for a family of four. All direct employees of the county and those working on long- and short-term county service contracts benefited from the wage hike. The City of Durham’s living wage is $9.50 per hour.
In addition to addressing complaints that individuals earning minimum wage cannot adequately support a family, a living wage aids in the recruitment and retention of quality workers, Durham City Council member Eugene Brown said.
“I just think that the minimum wage unfortunately has become a joke. It’s simply not adequate, especially not for a family of four,” Brown said. “By paying a decent wage, that’s one factor in helping to attract and retain good employees.”
Several factors make the Durham area primed for a living wage, said Donald Nonini, a Durham resident and professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who has investigated both sides of the living wage debate.
Nonini said the area may have been more ready than other communities for a living wage because Durham’s large black population—which has a history of being politically active—represents a large portion of the county’s working poor.
“There is a kind of political presence of African Americans in Durham that makes Durham a more likely place of organization,” Nonini said.
Supporters of a living wage are now hoping other local governments will follow Durham’s lead.
Some officials and workers’ rights groups in other parts of the state have tried to emulate Durham by making a determined effort to pass living wage ordinances. But many cities, including Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, have failed to produce tangible results.
“When you are trying to help people reach the ‘American Dream,’ a living wage is the best way to do it,” said James Mitchell, a member of Charlotte’s City Council.
Mitchell said he was disappointed when Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory vetoed a living wage ordinance that passed the council by a 7-4 vote in 2001. All the votes in favor of the bill came from Democrats, and all those against it—including the mayor’s veto—came from Republicans.
Because Republicans tend to be concerned with business interests, they are typically opposed to a living wage, Mitchell said.
Brownie Newman, a member of the Asheville City Council, said although he could not recall any organized movement to institute a living wage in Asheville, he would support one if it was presented.
“The combination of low-paying jobs and a high cost of living make Asheville’s economy a difficult one for a lot of our working people,” Newman said. “Is it right for people to work full time and live below the poverty line? I think the answer is no.”
But opponents of a living wage argue that while high-caliber workers might be attracted to higher pay and improved quality of life, a living wage would be detrimental to many small businesses.
Harvey Schmitt, president and chief executive office of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, said the implementation of a living wage would force businesses to hire fewer workers because they would have to pay them more.
“Most small businesses would see it as a potential challenge if it were across the board because it would be harder to hire people,” Schmitt said. “When you set an arbitrary baseline you run the risk of hurting job generation.”
Despite opponents like Schmitt, living wage ordinances have been passed in several U.S. cities, including Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles and New Orleans.
While municipal governments have traditionally played the most influential roles in implementing living wages, universities as major employers are now increasingly taking action to raise their workers’ wages. Georgetown University announced Thursday that it will provide a living wage to both its hired and outsourced workers.
In North Carolina, Duke has shied away from defining its recent move to raise the base pay of all Duke-hired workers as a living wage, but its planned minimum pay rate of at least $10 per hour exceeds Durham’s recently adopted living wage.
UNC does not have a living wage and its minimum pay rate is considerably less than Duke’s. Housekeeping and food services employees there have begun lobbying for better pay. Patrick Conway, a professor of economics at UNC, said that instituting a living wage is harder at a public university where funds are dictated by the state.
“We can’t change wages on UNC’s campus the same way they can on Duke’s campus,” he said.
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