Paycheck parity

Raising the federal minimum wage would correct an inequity for workers in a shrinking number of states stuck at $5.15 an hour

Rationales for raising the nation's minimum wage are stacking up like cordwood. That may help to explain the surprising momentum gathering behind efforts to increase wages for the lowest of low-skill jobs.

On Capitol Hill recently, the Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee approved a Democratic bill raising the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. It was a maverick move, though a wise one, by a committee that doesn't even have jurisdiction over work rules.

Earlier this month, a $1 minimum wage hike glided through the N.C. General Assembly. When Governor Easley signs the bill, as he is expected to do, North Carolina will join 20 other states that have rightly gone beyond the minimum set by Congress nearly a decade ago.

Erasing the pay disparities those changes have produced is one more good reason Congress needs to act.

Without congressional action, the current minimum wage has been left to reach its lowest level in 50 years, adjusted for inflation. There is no cost-of-living clause for waiters and others on the bottom rung of the job ladder. Their elected representatives, by contrast, enjoy inflation-proof salaries that can only be undone by, well, an act of Congress.

Business groups usually oppose minimum wage increases as unnecessary government meddling in the job market. This year, though, the chief executive of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott, made an excellent point when he publicly broke with his brethren: Workers earning $5.15 an hour can't afford even to shop in his discount stores.

Two million U.S. workers were in that unfortunate spot in 2004, the most recent year reported by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. But that number has likely been shrinking, as state after state has raised the minimum on their own initiative. Twenty more states are reportedly still considering doing the same.

A healthy economy has made it an opportune time to act, even for businesses. Unemployment is running low, 4.6 percent nationally, creating a labor market that is ripe for rising wages, regardless of government actions.

Besides, North Carolina's small businesses, which had mounted some opposition to a $6.15 minimum, may yet win a consolation prize. Reports are that lawmakers made them a fair promise of help with employee health insurance to offset the costs of a higher minimum wage.

Congress could do considerable good by approving the $7.25 minimum wage bill co-sponsored by Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy and U.S. Rep. George Miller of California, both Democrats.

Struggling workers would benefit from the extra money, especially those in states clinging to the minimum set in 1997. Some of that extra money likely would land in the cash registers of Wal-Mart and some small businesses as well -- and all this in an election year. Enough said?