nearly one-third of the north carolina workforce is low-wage

By our definition, approximately 31% of North Carolina’s working population earns a low wage at their job. However, this work is distributed unevenly in North Carolina. Low-wage workers are more likely to be female, young, a minority, and less educated than non-low wage workers. They are also more likely to be an immigrant. These disparities both reflect and contribute to other socioeconomic inequalities. Explore this section to examine in detail who is most impacted by low-wage work.  

The graphs below show the age distribution of North Carolina by low wage earner status. In comparison to the general population, youth in the labor force are more likely to be low-wage workers. However, 50% of low-wage workers are over the age of 35 years.

White workers account for the largest number of low-wage workers in north carolina. However, the distribution of low-wage work within each racial and ethnic group reveals significant disparities. This disparity is particularly serious for hispanics: nearly 3 out of 5 hispanic workers in NC work in a low-wage job.

almost half of foreign-born workers are employed in low-wage jobs