To many people, increasing the federal minimum wage rate by 70 cents, from $5.15 to $5.85 might seem like pocket change.

But it means a lot to the people who bag groceries, sweep floors at local elementary schools, and ask customers if they want fries with that super-sized meal.

By increasing the federal minimum wage rate to $7.25 over the next two years, the new Democratic-led Congress took the first concrete step toward a broader American agenda to grow our economy and increase opportunities for all Americans, not just a privileged few.

After a decade of Republican obstructionism, Democrats are producing results.

It’s not just Democrats in Washington who are making a difference. North Carolina Democrats took the lead last year in increasing the state’s minimum wage rate from $5.15 to $6.15 an hour. That change took effect in January.

Increases in the state and federal minimum wage rates will affect 611,000 North Carolinians. [Source: EPI, Workers affected by minimum wage increase to $7.25 by state, June 1 2007. http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib234]

Until Democrats took action, thousands of North Carolinians saw their wages remain static while gas prices, health care and education costs and even the cost for a gallon of milk swelled.

“It’s a shame that in one of the richest countries in the world, one can work full-time and still live in poverty,” said NCDP Chair Jerry Meek. “Increasing the minimum wage won’t eliminate poverty for thousands of North Carolinians. But it underscores the fact that there is dignity in work and that ought to be rewarded.”