Fillmore Bowen: No ‘comeback’ for median wages

I find it difficult to understand how the governor and legislature can talk about a “Carolina Comeback” when the Pew Research Center just reported that Goldsboro’s median household income has declined 26 percent since 1999. Only one other city in the United States had a worse decline. The report also mentioned that Rocky Mount, Burlington and Winston-Salem were not far behind in declining income.

How do we come back from a 26 percent decline in income? If workers cannot earn a living wage, and our legislature passed a law preventing cities from raising the minimum wage, how can they come back?

I guess the “comeback” is encouraging businesses who don’t have to pay a living wage to their workers to come back to North Carolina. Oh, except we passed House Bill 2, which now drives them away again.

With median household incomes in our state declining, it’s hard to see how our residents are going to be able to ever recover. I would like to know what this “Carolina Comeback” is that the governor is talking about.

This story was originally published May 16, 2016 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Fillmore Bowen: No ‘comeback’ for median wages."