(The items in this edition of Tuesday numbers are from “The State of Working North Carolina 2015,” from the N.C. Justice Center.)
90—percentage of North Carolina work force that was white or African-American in 2003
85—percentage of North Carolina current work force that is white or African-American
4.3—percentage of North Carolina workforce that was Hispanic in 2000
8.9— percentage of North Carolina workforce that was Hispanic in 2013
2.1—percentage of North Carolina workforce that was Asian in 2000
3.1—percentage of North Carolina workforce that was Asian in 2013
50—minimum percentage of median wage that economists agree a wage floor should reflect in a given labor market.
7.25—amount in dollars of the current hourly minimum wage
8.80—amount in dollars of a minimum wage that would be 50 percent of median wage in North Carolina
16.21—amount in dollars of the hourly wage it takes to make ends meet—buying groceries, paying the rent, putting gas in the car, etc.–according to a calculation of the Living Wage Standard done every two years by the N.C. Budget & Tax Center
108.1—percentage increase in workers productivity from 1948-1979
93.4—percentage increase in wages from 1948-1979
65—percentage increase in worker productivity from 1979-2013
8.2—percentage increase in wages from 1979-2013
153.6—percentage increase in wages for the top 1 percent from 1979-2013
5.8—percentage increase in productivity in North Carolina during the ongoing recovery from the Great Recession
3—percentage decrease in wages in North Carolina during the ongoing recovery from the Great Recession
29—number of states that had minimum wages higher than the current $7.25 federal minimum wage as of January 1, 2015
1.3 million—number of North Carolinians who would be impacted by an increase in the minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020
47—percentage of workers receiving paid sick days through their employer in 1999
39—percentage of workers receiving paid sick days through their employer in 2014
1.2 million—number of workers in North Carolina who currently have no paid sick leave
10—percentage of North Carolinians ages 65 and older who live at or below the federal poverty line in 2013
60—percentage of North Carolina workers over 18 years old without employer pension plans
500,000—number of low-income adults in North Carolina caught in the health care coverage gap because state officials have not expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act
75—percentage of people in North Carolina caught in the Medicaid coverage gap who live in a household with at least one part-time or full-time worker
1.9—percentage of North Carolina workers who belong to unions, the lowest rate in the country
7.95—amount in dollars of the hourly wage of a non-union workers in the bottom ten percent of the earnings range
10.60—amount in dollars of hourly wage of union workers in the bottom ten percent of the earnings range
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