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News and Observer Editorial

News and Observer
Published: Jan 09, 2006 12:30

Wages at the bottom

In fairness, North Carolina's minimum wage is overdue to be raised. Inflation has chipped away at the value of $5.15, the minimum hourly wage required by federal law nine years ago. Today, it takes $6.26 to buy what $5.15 bought in 1997.

Against that background, it's apparent that State Treasurer Richard Moore isn't climbing too far out on a limb with his proposal that the state minimum wage be raised to $6.15 an hour. Nevertheless, it takes moxie to call for even that modest increase in front of business groups that have steadfastly resisted any increase at all.

Understandably, Moore doesn't spend much time extolling the benefits of an extra dollar an hour to workers. Members of the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry have been more concerned that raising the minimum would drive up labor costs enough to crimp profits.

Moore's case rests on the effect that bare-minimum employers have on their competition: The more their workers are forced into public programs, the more tax revenue must be collected from businesses to pay for them. Taxes crimp profits, too.Because of a rosy economic outlook, now is an opportune moment to even things up for employers and workers alike. Business investment and expansion predicted for this year promise to blunt the impact of higher labor costs on bottom lines.

Besides, higher wages would serve North Carolina's goal of stimulating the economy beyond its growing cities. More money in the hands of low-skill workers would be spent in areas of the state without many high-paying jobs.
Workers earning the current minimum wage can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart stores, one reason why Wal-Mart's chairman recently called on Congress to raise the federal minimum. A simpler reason for lawmakers to act would be fairness to hard-working people.

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Raising minimum wage in N.C. would benefit business and ease a social inequity

Asheville CITIZEN-TIMES.com

January 7, 2006

Raising minimum wage in N.C. would benefit business and ease a social inequity

Earlier this week State Treasurer Richard Moore made some compelling arguments as he encouraged North Carolina corporate executives and other business leaders to support a $1 per hour increase in the minimum wage.
For business leaders, the most persuasive argument may well have been that businesses do better when people have more money to spend.

“Raising the minimum wage is a pro-business policy,” Moore argued. “Study after study has shown that in the periods after a minimum wage increase, the labor market shows few negative effects. In fact, some studies have even shown that the labor market improves for low-income workers. This is because businesses actually start to do better when consumers have more money in their pockets.”

Moore noted that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott has expressed support for raising the minimum wage because he understands that it would “ultimately improve his bottom line.”

The state treasurer’s remarks came at the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry’s Annual Economic Forecast Forum. Moore also pointed out to businesses that, thanks to the low minimum wage, many of them are subsidizing their competitors.

“I have talked with several of you about this,” he said. “Not only were you shocked to find out that the minimum wage was so low, but you said that you pay well above it. However, if your competition pays only the bare minimum, their employees are almost forced to use public programs paid for by your tax dollars to get by. You are subsidizing your competitors’ business.”

Moore deserves credit for connecting the dots, but also for promoting legislation that would benefit many low-income North Carolinians before a group that has generally been hostile to it because they perceive that it will cost them money.

As Moore pointed out, the costs of health care, gasoline and housing are all going up.

“You know that these expenses affect the bottom line of your businesses,” he said. “But for North Carolina’s low-income families, these costs are all too often a crushing burden.”

When adjusted for the rise in prices since 1997, the current minimum wage, which is $5.15 per hour, is worth less than it was before the last increase, Moore said.

In fact, according to the Economic Policy Institute, wage inequality has been increasing. That’s in part because of the declining real value of the minimum wage. The minimum wage today is 33 percent of the average hourly wage of American workers. That’s the lowest level since 1949.

A worker earning minimum wage who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earns $10,712 before taxes.

One hundred thousand North Carolinians would benefit if the state legislature raised the minimum wage, Moore said, more than half of them age 25 or older.
“Raising the minimum wage would also help thousands of teen-agers and college students,” Moore said. “One of the most troubling statistics I’ve heard recently is that more students drop out of college because of financial reasons than because of grades.”

It’s hard to argue with the state treasurer’s logic. More importantly it’s hard to argue with his sentiment.

“We want an economy where existing businesses thrive and new businesses grow,” he said. “And we want our citizens to be able to support their families through hard work. ... Our workers deserve it. Our morals demand it. And our state’s economy will be better off for it.”

Here’s hoping the state’s business leaders got the message and will do their part to persuade North Carolina lawmakers to join the 17 other states that already have minimum wages higher than the federal minimum wage.

Pennies from Raleigh

Article published Jan 7, 2006

Greensboro News and Record

North Carolina's neediest workers deserve more than they're being paid, state Treasurer Richard Moore said this week in a nervy sermon to a roomful of business people.

Moore, a Democrat who is widely expected to run for governor in 2008, called, loudly and clearly, for an increase in North Carolina's minimum wage. "North Carolinians who work hard and play by the rules should be able to make ends meet," Moore said at a forum sponsored by the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry and the N.C. Bankers Association.

In this, the campaign preseason, when hopefuls set out to raise their profiles and define their platforms, score this one a touchdown on its buzz value alone. Yet aside from the political mileage he might have garnered, Moore also made a valid point: North Carolina's minimum wage of $5.15, which is identical to the federal minimum, has not increased since 1997 and has fallen hopelessly behind the rate of inflation.

Just ask state Rep. Alma Adams of Greensboro, who has pushed legislation that would raise the state's minimum wage since 1994.

Last summer, Adams tried again, authoring a bill that called for increasing the minimum wage to $6 an hour. The House passed it in August but the bill was never reconciled with a similar bill in the Senate.So many of the working poor are still saddled with long hours and low pay, while obstacles such as child care and transportation block the path to more education and better jobs.

A full-time minimum-wage worker who puts in 40 hours a week would earn $10,712 a year, well below the federal poverty level. Adjusted for inflation, Moore said, that places the state's minimum wage at its second-lowest level in 50 years.

The minimum wage in 2004 was 26 percent less than it was in 1979, notes the Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.

Small wonder 17 states have adopted minimum wages higher than the federal guideline.

Still, some employers argue that an increase in the minimum wage actually would do more harm than good and that it primarily would benefit teenagers who work part-time jobs. They also say that the cost of a minimum wage increase would force them to cut jobs, actually hurting the people it was designed to help.

But Moore noted that a one-dollar increase in North Carolina's minimum wage would benefit more than 100,000 workers, three-quarters of whom are older than 20 and a third of whom work full time. And studies show no appreciable job losses caused by minimum wage increases.

His political ambitions aside, Moore has taken on a worthwhile cause.An increase in the minimum wage clearly won't erase poverty by itself. But it is one means to help those who might otherwise seek public assistance find a new sense of self-reliance, self-worth and self-respect.

Copyright © 2005The News & Record

Help Spread the Word About the Petition

In an effort to show how much support there is across North Carolina for an increase in the minimum wage we need to gather as many signatures as possible to the petition. Please help by telling all your friends and neighbors to come to www.onedollarmore.blogspot.com and sign the petition. Thanks.

On Line Survey at the Charlotte Business Journal

http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/poll/index.html?poll_id=336

SURVEY QUESTION: Do you support increasing the minimum wage by $1 to $6.15 per hour?
Do you support increasing the minimum wage by $1 to $6.15 per hour?

Yes
61%

No
35%

Undecided
3%

Good for State Treasurer Richard Moore.

Moore support for minimum wage hike
Posted By Chris Fitzsimon On 4th January 2006 @ 12:54

Good for State Treasurer Richard Moore. Moore not only called for a dollar increase in the state minimum wage Tuesday, he called for it before a meeting co-sponsored by the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry, a group that has led the opposition to legislation in the General Assembly to raise the wage.

Most businesses in North Carolina pay more than the $5.15 an hour that the law requires. Moore told the business audience that they ought to support raising the floor for everybody because it's a competitive issue. Low-wage employers now rely on government programs to provide health care, childcare, and other benefits to employees that many businesses provide.
Moore’s remarks were met by uncertainty from business leaders in attendance and skepticism from some reporters, who presented Moore’s proposal as a way to get attention for his likely campaign for Governor in 2008.

Wachovia CEO Ken Thompson declined to endorse or oppose the minimum wage hike, saying said he hadn’t studied the numbers. Here are some. More than a hundred thousand workers in North Carolina would benefit from an increase in the minimum wage.

Despite claims to the contrary, three-fourths of the people who would benefit are 20 or older and half are over 25. Adults earn the minimum wage, not just teenagers. An adult who has a child and works full-time at the current minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is living in poverty, earning well below the federal poverty level for a family of two.

Studies show that an increase in the wage does not cause job loss and a 2004 report found that small businesses in states with a higher minimum wages than the federal government had more small business growth than states without a higher wage. Nine out of 10 of the small businesses surveyed in 1999 by the Jerome Levy Economics said the last minimum wage increase did not effect their employment or hiring decisions.

After defeating a minimum wage bill earlier in the session, the North Carolina House passed legislation last year that would raise the minimum wage by 85 cents an hour and give small businesses a tax credit for offering health insurance to its employees. That bill is now alive in the Senate, though the Senate Finance Committee voted to add all sort of tax cuts to the plan.
Moore responded to charges that he suggested the minimum wage hike for political reasons by saying it would not be an issue in 2008 if the General Assembly passed it in 2006. Good point.
And what if Moore makes raising the minimum wage part of his next campaign for whatever office he runs for? That’s welcome news, not something to bemoan.

Low-wage workers in North Carolina are struggling and North Carolina should do something about it by joining the 17 other states and the District of Columbia that have higher minimum wages than the federal law requires.

Potential candidates worried about the politics of Moore’s announcement ought to endorse the same proposal. The more people talking about raising the minimum wage, the better for the workers who desperately need the help.

Article printed from NC Policy Watch: http://www.ncpolicywatch.com/cms

Good Business

Good Business
Winston-Salem Journal
Thursday, January 5, 2006

State Treasurer Richard Moore demonstrated political flair Tuesday when he called for a $1 increase in the state minimum wage - and did so in front of 1,100 businesspeople, most of whom had likely lobbied against the idea last year when it was before the General Assembly.
Moore's call to raise the minimum hourly wage to $6.15 came at a meeting of the N.C. Citizens for Business and Industry, which is essentially the state's chamber of commerce. Business lobbyists have led efforts in Washington and Raleigh against raising the federal and state minimum wages. The last time Congress raised the wage was 1997, when it moved from $4.75 to the current $5.15 an hour.

Seventeen states and the District of Columbia have already required minimum wages above the federal standard. The New York Times says that nearly half of the nation's civilian work force is located in those states.

Moore's argument is gaining prominence nationally, especially with regard to Wal-Mart and its massive work force. The low wages and skimpy benefits packages offered by some companies simply transfer a sizable burden onto taxpayers. When a company fails to pay its employees a living wage, those employees depend on the government for more social and health services.
Moore said that businesses that pay good wages should support a minimum-wage increase. When the minimum wage is too low, and the working poor must seek government assistance, the burden of paying for those government services falls on both individuals and the companies that pay good wages.

With their Republican allies controlling both houses of Congress for most of the time since 1997, and the White House since 2001, business lobbyists have been able to stave off a federal minimum-wage increase. But Democrats are responsible for the low wage in North Carolina. The Democratic Senate, with its decided pro-big business slant, refused to raise the wage in 2005. The Democratic House had passed it. Regardless of which party is to blame, the minimum wage, when adjusted for inflation, has sunk to historically low levels. A raise would help 100,000 workers in North Carolina.

Polls indicate that the politicians are way behind on this issue. A rise in the minimum wage would be very popular with the general public. The Times reported that even Wal-Mart now favors a higher minimum wage on the belief that workers making $5.15 an hour can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart.

Moore is correct when he argues that the company that underpays its workers is ripping off the taxpayers. Full-time workers should be able to support themselves without government handouts. That they cannot at this time is a result in large part of inadequate federal and state minimum-wage laws.

Moore's Speech at the 2006 Economic Forecasting Forum

Remarks for NCCBI Annual Economic Forecast Conference

State Treasurer Richard H. Moore
January 3, 2006


Thank you for that kind introduction.

From a budget standpoint the upcoming year looks to be pretty good for state government.

North Carolina’s revenue picture continues to improve as the economy continues to grow:
Through the end of November, total revenue collections are 6.6 percent ahead of last year.
Tax revenue to this point is 8.5 percent ahead of last year.

In total, actual revenue collections are $96.4 million dollars ahead of schedule in the budget.
The budget passed last summer put $199 million in the Rainy Day Fund, $100 million in repair and renovation, and left $112 million unspent.

The state’s debt picture also continues to remain healthy.

Over the five years that I have been in office, North Carolina has issued $4.2 billion dollars of general fund supported debt.

This money has gone to improve our universities and community colleges, hospitals, natural resources, and public schools and has been a great investment.

Along the way we have maintained our triple A rating and continued to receive extremely low interest rates when we have brought these bonds to market.

I am particularly proud of my staff’s work to refinance our existing debt. Through their efforts, we have saved the state over $325 million dollars and given it back to the legislature to use for other important needs.

By the measures commonly used to establish a state’s relative debt burden, North Carolina continues to have a low level of debt – even for other triple A states.

Assuming continued economic growth, we will have capacity for increased capital investment in upcoming years.

While our overall direction is positive, one area that greatly troubles me is the status of our lowest income workers. The costs of health care, gasoline, and housing are increasing rapidly. You know that—these expenses affect the bottom line of your businesses. But for North Carolina’s low-income families, these costs are all too often a crushing burden. When the door to advancement and opportunity is closed to our people we all suffer and it can have a huge impact on the bottom line.

North Carolinians who work hard and play by the rules should be able to make ends meet. More than that, they should have the opportunity to improve their situation and that of their families. We can help them do this -- we can raise the minimum wage by at least one dollar.

While there has been bipartisan support in Congress for several years to raise this rate, it does not seem likely that it’s going to pass. Besides, should we really wait for Congress and Washington to do what’s right? In areas from education to lending practices this state has not hesitated to move ahead of the country to expand opportunity for our people when we saw the need and we should move ahead on this important issue.

When you adjust the current minimum wage for the rise in prices since 1997, it’s actually worth less than it was before the last increase. In fact, when you look at a longer time horizon, the minimum wage is at its second-lowest point in the last fifty years. In other words, while the cost of just about everything else has been going up, the value of the minimum wage has actually gone down to historic lows. A minimum wage worker in North Carolina who works 40 hours a week for all 52 weeks of the year would earn $10,712 a year before taxes.

I believe that raising the minimum wage is a pro-business and pro-family measure that will greatly benefit all of us. Raising the minimum wage by one dollar would benefit more than 100 thousand North Carolina workers. More than half of them are over the age of 25, and three quarters are over the age of 20. Overall, almost a third of minimum wage workers in our state are full-time employees. Raising the minimum wage will also help thousands of teenagers and college students. One of the most troubling statistics I’ve heard recently is that more students drop out of college because of financial reasons than because of grades. So it certainly won’t hurt to put a bit more money in the pockets of our students who deserve to be rewarded for juggling work and school.

Right now, seventeen other states have a minimum wage higher than the federal wage. The state House of Representatives passed legislation calling for an increase in the minimum wage that, unfortunately, was not taken up by the Senate. People in North Carolina are starting to realize it doesn’t make sense to have anyone working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year make $893 dollars a month.

Raising the minimum wage is a pro-business policy. Study after study has shown that in the periods after a minimum wage increase, the labor market shows few negative effects. In fact, some studies have even shown that the labor market improves for low-income workers. This is because businesses actually start to do better when consumers have more money in their pockets. Lee Scott, the CEO of Wal-Mart, has expressed support for raising the minimum wage for exactly this reason. He knows that increased wages will ultimately improve his bottom line.

One of the strongest business arguments I can think of for NCCBI and the North Carolina Bankers Association to embrace this increase, is that the current minimum wage may very well put you at a competitive disadvantage. I have talked with several of you about this. Not only were you shocked to find out that the minimum wage was so low, but you said that you pay well above it. However if your competition pays only the bare minimum, their employees are almost forced to use public programs paid for by your tax dollars to get by. You are subsidizing your competitors business.

Ask yourself these questions. Isn’t it worth a dollar an hour to ensure that the children of minimum wage workers show up for school well fed, healthy and ready to learn? And if they don’t, who pays for that?

Isn’t it worth a dollar an hour to help minimum wage workers to have at least a fighting chance to get ahead, pay their bills on time, and invest in their future? And if they don’t, who pays for that?

I think we all want a North Carolina where the education system produces internationally competitive graduates. We want an economy where existing businesses thrive and new businesses grow. And we want our citizens able to support their families through hard work.

Raising the minimum wage will help us achieve these goals. Our workers deserve it. Our morals demand it. And our state’s economy will be better off for it.

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Moore Starts the One Dollar More Coalition

State Treasurer Richard Moore Calls for Increase in Minimum Wage

Raleigh –State Treasurer Richard Moore told business leaders and corporate executives on Tuesday, January 3rd that North Carolina should increase its minimum wage by $1.

While speaking at the North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry’s Annual Economic Forecast Forum, Moore called for increasing the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, which would benefit more than 100,000 North Carolina workers.

“North Carolinians who work hard and play by the rules should be able to make ends meet. More than that, they should have the opportunity to improve their situation and that of their families. We can help them do this -- we can raise the minimum wage by at least one dollar,” Moore said.

Moore noted that adjusted for inflation, the current minimum wage is worth less now than it was in 1997. “In fact, when you look at a longer time horizon, the minimum wage is at its second-lowest point in the last fifty years,” Moore said.

Moore rejected the notion that raising the minimum wage will hurt business, and believes that North Carolina’s lawmakers have a moral obligation to look after the state’s lowest-paid workers.

“I think we all want a North Carolina where the education system produces internationally competitive graduates. We want an economy where existing businesses thrive and new businesses grow. And we want our citizens able to support their families through hard work,” Moore said. “Raising the minimum wage will help us achieve these goals. Our workers deserve it. Our morals demand it. And our state’s economy will be better off for it.”
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