South By North Strategies, Ltd.

The N.C Budget and Tax Center reports that state investigators substantiated 1,651 allegations of “wage theft”  involving $4.7 million in earned wages that were not paid to employees during fiscal year 2011. From the analysis …

The concentration of wage‐theft complaints by industry in North Carolina aligns with national trends. Wage theft complaints are more likely to occur in low‐wage industries. Importantly, those industries with the highest incidence of wage theft – retail and home health‐care services –are also among the industries with the strongest job growth in North Carolina.
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As North Carolina’s economic recovery and projected job growth remain concentrated in industries and occupations where the most complaints of wage violations are made, the need for monitoring and enforcement of wage and hour laws will grow.