Since 1997 the cost of a loaf of bread has gone from $.86 to $1.04; a dozen eggs have gone from $1.15 to $1.45; and a gallon of gas from $1.26 to $2.32, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The federal minimum hourly wage has gone from $5.15 to $5.15.

That's right, since 1997 the wage cost to corporate America for a day of work from our country's lowest-paid workers hasn't gone up a dime.

And it's not just the kid down the street earning minimum wage. It's the family down the street. There are 7.3 million people who would directly benefit from raising the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour, including 1.8 million parents with children under the age of 18. An additional 8.2 million workers would benefit because of the spillover effect of a minimum wage increase, in which workers earning a little above the minimum also experience an increase. At least 238,200 workers in North Carolina would benefit from a rise in minimum wage.

The earnings of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families' well-being. Raising the federal minimum to $7.25 would mean an additional $4,370 a year for families' pocketbooks -- enough to pay an average of nine months of rent, 18 months of heat and electricity or a full year's tuition toward a community college degree.

And if minimum wage workers earned enough to provide for their families, taxpayers would not need to pick up the tab for employers who do not pay their workers a living wage.

Unfortunately, the lowest-paid working Americans cannot pinch any more pennies or tighten their belts further. They are holding down multiple jobs just to make ends meet. At the current minimum wage level, a full-time, year-round minimum wage worker will earn $5,888 less than the $16,660 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty. That puts many minimum wage workers among the 37 million Americans, including 1.2 million North Carolinians, living in poverty.

Opponents of minimum wage increases argue that raising the wage will cause job loss, but contemporary research proves this argument false. For example, research from the Economic Policy Institute finds that the 1996-97 federal minimum wage increase did not cause job loss and that minimum wage increases actually help to lower poverty rates.

The lowest-paid workers need to know there is relief in sight. Fortunately, we see elected representatives stepping up to offer some real solutions. Sen. Edward Kennedy revived the Fair Minimum Wage Act, and in the House, Reps. George Miller of California and John Barrow of Georgia are pushing similar legislation which would raise the wage to $7.25 over the course of two years.

If this legislation is again voted down, can we stomach a Congress that continues to give itself raises -- eight since 1997 -- while denying America's lowest-paid workers even one? The salaries of senators and representatives have gone up $31,600 since 1997. That means their pay raises alone since the last minimum wage increase total three times a minimum wage worker's total annual salary.

In North Carolina, legislators have a chance to do right by workers -- there's a bill that would raise our state minimum wage to $6 an hour. That's hardly adequate but it's a beginning.

Working people in America are living on a very thin margin. Congress must take action to pass the Fair Minimum Wage Act and reject efforts by big business to deny workers fair wages and protections. Our lowest-paid workers haven't seen an increase in the minimum wage in almost a decade. These Americans have more than earned a raise.

(James Andrews is president and MaryBe McMillan is secretary-treasurer of the North Carolina AFL-CIO.)