The coalition includes about 65,000 members of groups such as the N.C. Restaurant Association, N.C. Retail Merchants Association, N.C. Home Builders Association, N.C. Association of Convenience Stores and the National Federation of Independent Business. Together, they employ hundreds of thousands of workers.

"Minimum wage increases sound good, but they hurt communities far more than they help a few individuals," said Gregg Thompson, director of the state National Federation of Independent Business chapter.

Increasing the minimum wage has been debated for some time. This month, the issue gained momentum when Gov. Mike Easley proposed raising the minimum wage in the state to $6 an hour. Some Democrats in the legislature are pushing for a dollar increase to $6.15.

The state's minimum wage has remained at $5.15 since the last federal increase in 1997.

Thompson says the Democrats' plan would cost restaurants, convenience stores and other small businesses $95 million in payroll, taxes and workers' compensation.

"They have to make that $95 million up in some way," Thompson said. "Most small businesses are barely making it. They can't take it from their bottom line. It has to come from reducing work force or work hours, or possibly passing it on to customers."

James F. Smith, an economist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says the coalition has a valid point. "The people the legislature are trying to benefit will never get the benefit," Smith said. "A few people will get a raise, some will never get hired and a few will get laid off.

"It's one of those things that drives economists crazy," he said. "The textbooks say it's a bad thing. But legislators say it's wonderful."

People who support the increase say it is needed to help workers deal with the rising costs in basic necessities such as food, health insurance and fuel.

"We definitely need the increase," said Joseph Costa, a sheriff's deputy assigned to Jordan High School in Durham and a member of Traction, a left-leaning social network of 20- and 30-somethings.

"It's funny to me that people aren't banding together to decrease health costs, housing costs and education costs, but come together to say that we don't need a minimum wage increase," Costa said.

He said it's a moot point to argue that raising the minimum wage will raise inflation.

"We haven't had an increase [in wages] in years, and everything is going up anyway," Costa said.

Thompson said that only 15 percent of the 115,000 minimum-wage workers in North Carolina are the heads of their families. They would qualify for the earned income tax credit and most are eligible to receive state support for food, child care and health services, he said.

The remaining 85 percent are high school or college students or people entering the work force. Thompson argued that those workers generally earn more money as they gain experience and skills.

Thompson concedes that the group, called the Coalition to Preserve North Carolina Jobs, has a tough battle ahead. A recent poll from Elon University showed that 79 percent of those surveyed support an increase. And recently, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards has been traveling the country to support state initiatives to raise the minimum wage.

But Thompson is optimistic. The coalition plans to present facts, figures and studies to lawmakers to sway them away from raising the minimum wage.

Members of the state National Federation of Independent Business group "plus the other coalition members represent a very expansive number in North Carolina," he said.