North Carolina was named as the worst state for workers in Oxfam America’s 2024 Best and Worst States to Work index.
The annual report ranked every state — as well as Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. — based on three state-level standards: wages, worker protections and the right to organize.
According to Kaitlyn Henderson, a senior researcher at Oxfam and the lead researcher and author of the index, all of the standards tracked in the report are either nonexistent or insufficient at the federal level.
She said North Carolina is at the bottom of the ranking because compared to higher-ranking states, like California — which is ranked second, North Carolina relies almost entirely on federal standard policies for wages, the right to organize and other worker protections.
“If you have the same job in North Carolina as in California, in California, you’re paid a much more robust wage and you have a lot more protections at work,” she said. “Even something so simple as if your kid is sick and needs to stay home from school — you can take a sick day and not lose your paycheck for the day.”
Henderson also said the Oxfam index aims to show that a lot of labor policies that seem neutral on the surface tend to have a disproportionate impact on specific communities, including women, women of color and immigrants.
Debbie Everly, the director of Orange County Living Wage, said while she wasn’t surprised by North Carolina’s rank in the Oxfam index, it was disappointing to see.
Henderson said based on the report’s findings, some of the policy changes that would bump North Carolina up in the ranking include raising the minimum wage and passing policy in support of paid leave or the right to organize.
North Carolina’s current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, shared by neighboring states Tennessee and South Carolina. However, the cost of living in North Carolina is higher than in those states, which gave it a worse score in the index, Henderson said.
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Publish date : 2024-09-13 07:50:00
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