Just when you thought it was safe to come out again, a new living wage could come upon us! Kidding aside, employers across the United States have not only seen recently a spate of minimum wage increases, debates, and law changes in the last few years. They have also seen a bunch of local communities and cities choose to set up a living wage within their borders. Just this month, a new living wage law was passed that for the first time extended a living wage throughout a whole state—that being Maryland.
Now I got word of another living wage movement taking place in the community of Greensboro, North Carolina. There in the northern part of the northern half of the Carolinas, a movement started for and by the citizens of the state is pushing for a living wage of $9.36 per hour.
The name of the group leading the campaign to draft a living wage law in Greensboro is the Greensboro Minimum Wage Campaign. The purpose behind it is to do what most supporters of living wages push for—which is to give certain workers, or all workers in some cases, in a given area more salary than the minimum wage. The reason is that the minimum wage is generally set based on what the old minimum wage used to be, added with the rate of inflation to keep it up to date.
On the other hand, a living wage such as the one proposed in Greensboro is meant to ensure that a worker makes enough per hour to bring their annual salary at or above the federal poverty level, which is generally considered along the lines of: what would it take two adults working full time to make enough to reach the poverty line for a family of four in that given area.
