Past time to hike minimum wage
To the Editor:
While lawmakers at the federal level stall on a $15 per hour minimum wage, let’s remember that we don’t have to wait. We can do what 29 other states have done and raise our state minimum wage. We just need the political will to do it.
The minimum wage hasn’t gone up in almost 12 years. North Carolina’s economy can’t wait anymore. Continually asking workers to get up early with their families, go to one job for eight hours, get off, go to their second job until the early hours, and then turn around to start all over again — this is inhumane.
No one should have to work two jobs to support a family. The minimum wage sits, stagnant, at $7.25 an hour while rent and the cost of basic everyday goods go up. The living wage (how much it actually costs to live) in Western North Carolina is between $18-to-$22 per hour, 2 to 4 times the minimum. It is time for lawmakers to stand up and make a change.
Abby Shuler
Waynesville
