When Oxfam America released its Best States to Work Index (BSWI) last month, my eyes trailed down the column listing 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia until I found the lowest-ranked state: North Carolina. For the third year, my home state—once considered a bastion of progressive policy in the South—ranked dead last, winning the unenviable honor of being the worst state to work.

Strong workplace policies benefit working people, families, and the economy. The states ranking highest on the BSWI offer higher wages, better workplace protections, and paid leave.

In lower-ranking states like North Carolina—where sick workers can't take time off, don’t have a robust minimum wage or adequate unemployment insurance benefits, and cannot access paid family or medical leave—the health, safety, and well-being of workers and their families suffer. The result is lost wages, reduced labor force participation, and an overburdened care system.

The human cost

Women in North Carolina—and women of color in particular—are overrepresented in low-wage work. We at the NC Justice Center’s Workers’ Rights Project wanted to explore the crisis behind the policies and share their impacts on our neighbors—particularly Black and Brown people, those in rural communities, and those working in the care economy.

On Labor Day, we - The North Carolina Justice Center - released The Cost of Inaction—2024 State of Working North Carolina, a report that explores the staggering human and economic toll of North Carolina’s failure to implement pro-worker policies. The best way to illustrate that cost is through the stories we collected.

Mary Hill, who works at an Amazon fulfillment center in Raleigh, is one of the people impacted by North Carolina’s failure to raise the minimum wage. She is dismayed at the low pay and poor benefits she and her coworkers receive doing item picking and packaging work.

At 70 years old, Hill is still working.

“I get my retirement, but it's only $800 a month,” said Hill. “That's why I have to work.”

In addition, Hill was diagnosed with cancer while working at Amazon, which involved multiple surgeries over a two-year period, followed by chemotherapy treatments. Initially, Hill received temporary disability, a voluntary program some employers offer that allows an employee to take time off with partial pay for medical situations. But, the low benefits made it challenging for her to be able to rest and focus on her recovery.

“Short-term [disability]…doesn't even cover my rent, let alone my light bill, my gas bill, my water bill,” said Hill. “I'd be homeless probably in a month with all my bills.”

Christine Robinson works in home care as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). She has cared for elderly patients and adults with disabilities for nearly 40 years. Robinson has felt the impact of stagnating wages and recalls a time when care work afforded a decent living. Now, she is one of a rising number of North Carolinians experiencing homelessness due to high housing costs and low wages.

“I’m homeless now because I don't make enough money to pay for rent,” Robinson said.

Tonya Mills, a working mom living in Greensboro, feels the pressure of financial precarity in her housing situation, too. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mills has experienced two layoffs that resulted in nearly two combined years of unemployment. She nearly lost housing for herself and her nine-year-old diabetic son after her second layoff.

“I went from making about $1800 a month to making about $260 a month on unemployment,” Mills said. “It was really challenging. My rent was already $725, which, when I was working a higher wage job, was easier to pay.”

Mills said the short duration and low amount of unemployment benefits limited her job search and made her more frantic to accept whatever job she could find, even if it didn’t allow her to use her degree or provide the pay and benefits she needed.

Mills eventually found a part-time position working as an administrative assistant for a public school. While she feels grateful for the job and the flexibility it affords her to care for her son’s medical needs, she is acutely aware of the little room for error in her family’s financial picture.

Policy recommendations

For the past decade, North Carolina policymakers have claimed that the cost of implementing beneficial workplace policies is too high, but our research has uncovered that the cost of inaction is significantly higher.

In North Carolina alone, lawmakers leave billions of dollars on the table each year—money that could make our families and economy more secure.

Whether the state you live in ranked first, last, or was somewhere in between, it’s clear from Oxfam’s analysis that every state must do more to protect working people and build resilient economies that help all people thrive—especially marginalized groups like Black and Brown women who face disproportionate barriers to workplace equity.

Here are our recommendations for lawmakers.

Improve wages and benefits for workers so that they can meet the needs of their families.

• Increase the minimum wage (federal/state)
• Adopt kin care policies (federal/state)
• Implement fair scheduling (federal/state)
• Institute equal pay regardless of gender or race (federal/state)
• Invest in unemployment insurance to support workers and insulate the broader economy (state)

Increase public investment in direct care services.

• Invest in ongoing childcare stabilization grant funding (federal)
• Increase funding for childcare subsidies (state)
• Raise the reimbursement rate for direct care services provided through Medicaid (state)

Ensure that workers have the ability to impact their working conditions through collective bargaining and the freedom to move between jobs.

• Increase job mobility by limiting the use of restrictive employment agreements (state)
• Ensure the rights of all private and public employees to engage in collective bargaining (state)

Robinson, the CNA experiencing homelessness, best sums up the message to lawmakers. “Put yourself in our shoes and see how you feel. I bet you would go back and change the way things are.”