Column: Labor Day and the Price of Survival
Labor Day isn’t just about a long weekend, backyard grills, or that last gasp of summer before football season takes over. It’s supposed to honor working people—their sweat, their craft, and their right to a fair shake. And here in Davidson County, that fair shake is still a conversation waiting for resolution.
We are a county built on the backs of labor. From the factories that once kept whole towns afloat, to the small businesses and service jobs that now patch the quilt of our economy, Davidson County knows work. What we don’t always see, though, is a living wage to match that work. Too many families are still piecing together part-time jobs, side hustles, or late-night shifts just to keep up with rent, groceries, and childcare.
The debate isn’t theoretical—it’s already playing out right here. County commissioners just wrestled with whether to raise law enforcement pay. Some restaurants have closed their doors not for lack of customers, but because they can’t keep staff. The refrain is familiar: many say they simply can’t cut the mustard on the kind of pay that’s being offered. And it’s not just young workers or those starting out. It’s playing out for people with decades of experience, multiple degrees, and the will to work—yet the paycheck still falls short of the price of survival.
The minimum wage in North Carolina has been frozen at $7.25 an hour since 2009. You don’t need to be an economist to know that’s not stretching far in 2025—not with housing costs climbing and grocery bills giving folks sticker shock. A living wage for one adult with a child in Davidson County is estimated at more than double that rate. That means the “minimum” doesn’t come close to the “enough.”
Some are quick to blame people’s lack of work ethic, but some of the hardest workers I know—including my late mother, Rosalyn Arnett—struggled to make ends meet. She woke up between 3 and 4 a.m. and often ended her workday well past 7 p.m. She worked despite medical conditions to make sure fresh biscuits and well-made food were a staple at Southern Lunch. She was surrounded by a loving team that honored her in life and in death, a Southern Lunch family of sorts who found her rides to work when she had no vehicle and came up with creative ways to put food on our table. For that, I am forever grateful.
Labor Day should remind us of the hard-fought battles for safer workplaces, shorter hours, and fair pay. Those gains didn’t arrive gift-wrapped; they came from organizing, sacrifice, and solidarity. The same spirit applies now: advocating for wages that meet today’s reality instead of yesterday’s economy.
This Labor Day, let’s honor workers not only with words but with a commitment to make sure that “hard work” and “making a living” actually mean the same thing.
