N.C. ranked as the worst state for workers due to reliance on federal standards

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. 

Everly said Orange County specifically needs to address its lack of affordable housing because when combined with a lack of livable wages, workers often cannot afford to live in the same place they work and must commute. 

When workers have the means to live where they are working, it benefits the community as a whole, she said.

“When folks are making their dollars in Orange County, close to Orange County or within Orange County, they're spending those dollars here,” Everly said. “So we're seeing that return where we're keeping those dollars working in our own economic system.”

Jennifer Haigwood, the director of the Occupational Safety and Health Division at the N.C. Department of Labor, said the department has made significant strides in workplace safety and health — a fact that isn’t highlighted in the Oxfam report.

She also said while the report is accurate in terms of the data, she is not convinced it tells the entire story about what it is like to live and work in North Carolina.

“Different reports will suggest that North Carolina has a wonderful business climate, and I recognize that the climate for business is not necessarily the same as the climate for workers," she said. "But I think that the Oxfam report probably is only telling part of the story.”

North Carolina was ranked second in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business 2024, but it fell from the number one spot because of a lack of investment in public education, infrastructure and the environment, Braxton Winston, the democratic candidate for N.C. Commissioner of Labor, said. 

“We have everything it takes to be both number one for both business and workers — those two ideas aren't mutually exclusive,” he said. “Businesses want to set up in communities where workforces are strong — where they're educated, they’re diverse, they're resilient. And workers want employers to expand opportunities and grow their businesses. Workers just want and deserve a fair situation at work.”

@sarahhclements

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