Agenda - 12-04-2006-7a - Laserfiche WebLink

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a~ the federal benefit most useful in raising working families out of poverty. A state-level earned income tax credit, set at a percentage of the federal credit, could lessen the tax burden of families earning less than $29,000 a year. Pay Equity: In 2005, a woman earned only 77 cents for every dollar a man earned. According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, women earned on the average $31,221, while men earned $41,798. The disparity was greater for women of color. In 2004, African-American women earned on the average $27,730, Latinas $23,444, and Asian-American women $35,975. Pay inequities between men's and women's earnings and segregation of women in low-paying jobs classified as "women's work," are important reasons why women are always coming from behind in the effort to achieve a living wage. Although the federal Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibited unequal pay for equal or "substantially. equal work," disparities persist. The.wage gap affects how working women and their families live. It affects their ability to provide affordable quality child care, good health care, higher income, and a secure retirement. Since Social Security benefits are directly tied to earnings, women who live longer than men and earn less are likely to have an insecure old age. One significant area in which a pay equity study is most possible is in state employment where wage scales are public records. In 19.82 a report from the Office of State Personnel, "Patterns of Pay in N.C. State Government," demonstrated that white males earned more than either black or white females and minority men. Legislation providing for a comparable worth study was passed in 1984 but repealed the next year. Salary inequities were again brought to light in the "Comprehensive Pay Plan" of 1993 but never addressed. A recent OSP report in 2004 brought the same bad news. It showed that women are 48.9 percent of the state workforce subject to the State Personnel Act but make up 71.5 percent of those in the low wage brackets. As for African-American women, they are 16 percent of the state SPA workforce but 3 5 percent of those in the lowest salary grades. NCWU members helped to get a bill introduced which raised the minimum salary for a state SPA worker about $2000 to $20,112. The bill also called for a pay equity study commission to look at disparities in male and female salaries of state workers; so far that legislation has not been passed. Such a study, using a point system of evaluation, would examine whether different jobs with requirements for similar education, skill, and responsibility received equal pay. This study in state government, the state's largest employer, would be one step leading to pay equity in North Carolina. RECOA~NDATIONS FOR ACTION... • The legislature should provide an increment of another dollar in the minimum wage and index the wage to inflation. • The legislature should pass a state Earned Income Tax Credit. • The legislature and NC Department of Health and Human Services should make every effort to continue cash- assistance benefits for low-income families with minor children. • The General Assembly should support a pay equity study of jobs in state government and implement any recommendations resulting from the study. • The General Assembly should create a state program allowing families to keep public assistance and child care subsidy benefits while completing their education orjob-retraining. 2006-2007 Women's DraftAgenda 17