05/26/2005
CONTACT: Gregg Thompson, (919) 844-6342 or Jim Brown, (615) 874-5288
Key House Commerce Committee Vote Scheduled for Wednesday, June 1
NORTH CAROLINA -- The National Federation of Independent Business, North Carolina's largest small-business group representing 15,000 members, today said it will continue to oppose an effort to establish a living wage in North Carolina. Wednesday, the House Commerce Committee is scheduled to hear HB 330, which would establish a living wage that would increase $3 (58 percent above the current federal minimum wage) over a three-year period.
"Concrete evidence shows that living wages are job destroyers and dreadful public policy," NFIB/North Carolina State Director Gregg Thompson said. "NFIB members and small-business owners know this well-intended legislation would cause significant layoffs across the state."
Thompson cited a report released earlier this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research that concludes implemented living wages cause an employment reduction among lower-skilled workers. Municipalities that have passed living-wage laws have experienced an average 1.7-percentage point increase in unemployment among low-wage workers, according to the data. The authors of the paper also found employment among low-wage workers can drop as much as 3.5 percent two to three years after the enactment of a living wage law.
NFIB's Research Foundation estimates that North Carolina, which had 3.87 million non-farm jobs as of April 2005, could lose as many as 135,000 jobs with a living wage, with a breakdown as follows: trade, transportation and utilities: 85,400 jobs lost; leisure and hospitality services: 34,750 jobs lost; and education and health services: 14,850 jobs lost.
A full copy of the report as well as statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor are available below or by contacting Thompson at the number above.
