Will your take home pay take you home?

Do you remember what the minimum wage was when you got your first paycheck? It was $1.15 per hour when I got a job as a part-time radio announcer in high school.  

Since then, congress has increased the federal minimum wage 17 times before enacting the current $7.25 an hour minimum in 2009. And workers in 22 states welcomed in this new year with increases in the minimum wage. Currently, 30 states have minimums that exceed the $7.25 level; in 20 it exceeds $18 per hour.

Back in 2009, a living wage was considered to be $11 or more per hour, so even then the $7.25 minimum wasn’t really adequate. But think what has happened since then.

Costs in 2025 are significantly higher than when the current federal minimum wage was established. Here are a few: In 2009, rent for a two-bedroom apartment was about $875 per month. Today you will pay $1,500 per month, a 58.33 percent increase. A pound of hamburger has increased by 63.5 percent, going from $1.99 compared to today’s $3.13 and a ribeye steak increased a whopping 202 percent, costing $19.25 today compared to 2009’s $3.89 per pound.  Even a dozen eggs has increased 50 percent in cost ($1.66 to $3.29 today).

My research reveals that more than 1.5 million workers in our state, about 37 percent of our workforce, earn less than $15 per hour. A living wage for a single earner is considered $22.54 per hour or about $47 thousand per year. But a fulltime worker on minimum wage only earns $15,080 a year -  that’s well below what is considered the poverty level.

Opposition to increasing the minimum wage comes primarily from the NC Chamber, NFIB (National Federation for Independent Businesses) and ultimately from our conservative Republican legislature. They trot out the age-old talking points that if we raise the minimum costs will increase, profit margins will shrink, inflation will result and jobs will be lost. They have blocked anything from changing.

Here’s where we are. The minimum wage is an embarrassment and doesn’t even come close to providing a sustainable income. The good news is that fewer than 2 percent of our workforce actually earns the minimum.

If we are waiting for our lawmakers, either in Washington or Raleigh, to take action on the minimum wage we will likely be waiting until Jesus comes again.

So, if we’re not going to do anything, let’s do nothing! In other words, let’s abolish having a state minimum wage at all, like five other states have done.

This simple solution might frighten some people and delight others. Our Libertarian friends, might celebrate, since they don’t like government intervention in much of anything. And it might scare those who are afraid that if we eliminate the state minimum wage that all hell would break lose. It might, but not the way many suspect. A free market approach to paying workers might threaten some employers who have used the minimum as a ceiling for paying workers too little. And it might scare some progressives who would fear it would end up with workers earning less. We don’t think either scenario will occur.

In both Tennessee and South Carolina, two of the five states with no state minimum wage, the states are still loosely regulated by the federal minimum wage. But consider what has happened. In South Carolina the average hourly wage in 2023 was $26.08 and 2025 data from Tennessee indicates the average hourly wage is $30.81. Data from our own state indicates it the average wage is $33.82 per hour.

Simply put, the state minimum wage doesn’t really mean anything. Even fast-food restaurants and other firms that hire entry-level workers in low skill jobs must pay what the market demands. Folks flipping burgers in fast food eateries earn, on average, $12.27 an hour.  

The one critical point in the minimum wage debate is that continuing to do nothing is not an acceptable solution. If we care about our people - all people, we need to provide an environment where people can earn a living wage.

Let’s loosen the shackles of unreasonable minimum wage laws. We might be pleasantly surprised at the results.

Tom Campbell is a Hall of Fame North Carolina broadcaster and columnist who has covered North Carolina public policy issues since 1965.  Contact him at tomcamp@ncspin.com