Program Changes
Just Economics operates Western North Carolina’s Living Wage Certification program, which is the largest local program in the nation. Part of the stewardship of this program includes identifying areas for improvement and adaptation and making updates to the program to better reflect the communities it serves while creating the maximum positive impact.
For the 2026 program updates, special attention was paid to how our program handles diverse categories of employees and how program criteria can better align with public perception to enhance buy-in from workers, employers, and consumers. Ultimately, we strive to build and steward a program that holds the urgent needs of workers and the real limitations of local employers in balance to accomplish the program’s real purpose: to raise wages for workers in the worst state to work in the country and achieve a just and sustainable economy for all in WNC.
The changes were handled through a standard process of staff and public Certification Committee revision and consensus, and final approval by Just Economic’s Board of Directors. Input was requested and received by existing Living Wage Certified employers in tipped industries and tipped-industry workers with the help of Asheville Food & Beverage United. Just Economics expresses gratitude to all members of the public who helped develop these changes and are optimistic about the improved robustness and impact of our program going forward.
The full list of program changes are:
- The interval for requirement of recertification is being reduced to 1-year for all certification types, from 2-years.
This change reduces the length of time before an employer is due for recertification to one-year, from two-years. While Just Economics calculates and releases a new Living Wage Rate every year in January, the certification deadline is June 30th to allow time for employers to plan increases and adjust wage rates. This means that the certification of an employer certified in any month in 2026 will be valid until June 30th, 2027.
Moving to a one year certification cycle has several benefits. Accentuated by rapid cost of living increases in the area, the benefits of a longer duration of certification to employers became contradicted by the size, or ‘sticker-shock’, of multiple year jumps in certification rates.
Additionally, many workers, consumers, and even certified employers assume that if an employer is ‘Living Wage Certified,’ that they are certified at the current living wage rate, not one from two-years ago. While the two-year certification was very effective for increasing wages for the past 15 years, the gap in program criteria and public understanding can be improved by this change as can a shift to smaller, more frequent wage increases as employers are planning for payroll changes.
- The criteria for employers of tipped workers is changing to clarify the requirement that workers be guaranteed a minimum of the certification rate whether achieved using tips, periodic supplements, or base wage increases, at an interval of 1 pay period or 31 days, whichever is shorter. This means that tipped interviews and W2s may be requested to verify earnings at a given point, but that the employer’s accounting mechanism directly compensates for earnings below living wage.
Just Economics allows employers who pay wages that are below a living wage to become certified if those workers are tipped and tips are guaranteed to bring the total hourly earning to at least the living wage amount. This is in recognition of the reality that North Carolina is one of only 15 states that allows tipped workers to be paid a subminimum wage of $2.13/hr with a guarantee only up to the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 which has not risen since 2009. Under these legal conditions, and the reality that the tourism-reliant WNC economy is a source of income for so many tipped workers, Just Economics’ position on accepting inclusion of tips into Living Wage Certification is that tipped workers are better protected and empowered within the unpredictable and harassment-prone tipped model and workplace if the guaranteed hourly wage with tips and base wages is a living wage. This is only one part of our commitment to tipped workers, as we also support worker-organizing through the WNC Workers Assembly and advocate regularly at the North Carolina General Assembly for raising the minimum wage and abolishing the subminimum wage for tipped earners, which is a relic of slavery.
We are not changing the requirement that employers guarantee a living wage to tipped workers, that was already the case. Rather, the change in the verification model shifts greater responsibility to employers and improves transparency. Our previous verification method relied on interviewing a percentage of tipped-employees to verify consistent earnings and this model presented some challenges. Employees were not always aware of their exact earnings because of the variable nature of their compensation and varying degrees to which workers track the information, opening the possibility of inaccuracy. It also relied on workers sharing the amounts they had earned previously, which unlike the requirements of Living Wage Certification, can not account for how much a worker will make. Going forward and eliminating ambiguity, employers of tipped workers are asked to have a tracking system in place, similar to the legally required system to guarantee up to the Federal minimum wage, just increasing that amount to a living wage. In certain circumstances, especially in the first year of the change, Just Economics may still request tipped interviews as a secondary check on the certification.
This, and other models of equitable compensation, have already been implemented by many tipped employers. Both certified tipped-industry employers and workers guided the decision through a survey distributed to the two groups, in which 88% of employers surveyed said that this shift was feasible, but were less sure that it was an improvement for workers, and 75% of workers surveyed said the shift was an improvement, but were less sure that it was feasible for employers.
- The supplement for 1099 contractors is changing from a flat $2.00/hr addition to a rate of 7.65%, or half of the current FICA tax amount incurred by 1099 workers.
Because 1099 contractors are responsible for the entirety of the 15.3% FICA tax, their take home pay, and ability to meet the cost of living, is less than a W2 employee who is paid the same wage and whose employer covers half of the FICA tax. As such, our criteria requires that 1099 contractors have wages supplemented from the certification rate to offset the tax. Previously, that increase has been a flat $2.00/hour increase for all workers. However, in adhering to greater accuracy of the difference in take-home pay and aligning with national Living Wage Certification practices, we have changed the supplement from the flat-rate to the rate of 7.65%, or half of the current FICA tax amount incurred by 1099 workers.
Notably, the 7.65% is a reduction in the dollar-and-cents supplement for 1099 workers in all of our certification categories for now. Once future rates meet $26/hour, 7.65% will exceed $2.00.
- The exemption for project-based or temporary workers (60 days of work or less) is being removed from program criteria.
Previously, Just Economics exempted temporary or project-based part-time workers (fewer than 60 days) from our program criteria. This exemption is now removed, and brings broad categories of workers under our program, including seasonal workers, staff brought in for high volume periods, substitute and interim positions. Commonly, there is a lesser expectation that part-time workers should earn high or living wages, likely based on an assumption that they are electing to work part-time because of a lower need or greater ability to meet the cost-of-living.
This is not true or reflected in the WNC workforce, where part-time workers are very likely to be working a part-time job as a second or third job; because of increased need to provide care to elders or children; because of an illness, disability, lack of transportation, or barrier related to immigration status or record of incarceration, or other factors limiting access or availability to full-time work. Through this change, Just Economics hopes to increase the visibility of part-time workers and affirm the principle that all workers should earn a living wage.
- The exemption for minors working part-time is being removed from program criteria.
Just Economics previously exempted minors working part-time from our program criteria. This exemption is now removed, and has the potential to impact the wages of thousands of working-minors. Commonly, there is a lesser expectation that working-minors should earn living wages, likely on the belief that they do not have cost of living expenses while living with their parents, and that they are working on a completely voluntary basis. Unfortunately, this perception is often extended to entire workplaces where people believe minors work, like fast-food, to the disadvantage of the entire industry-workforce, minor and adult.
This dangerous myth is not true or reflected in the WNC workforce, where minors are often working in addition to attending school in order to assist their parents struggling to meet the cost of living; are caregivers to their parents who have limited work capacity; because they are in a situation where they want or need to live independently, or because many working-minors are parents themselves. Just Economics hopes to increase the visibility of working-minors and affirm the principle that all workers should earn a living wage with this change.
- The criteria for exemption of an intern is changing. In order for a worker to be considered an intern, they must be partaking in an internship that is clearly advertised as such at the time of hiring, is for a short or temporary duration not to exceed 1 year, and includes an educational component that is endorsed by an accredited institution or established program within the organization.
Interns are a complex category of worker. They can be paid, unpaid, credited at an educational institution, part of a ramp into full-employment within a firm, and more. While low wages are often justified by the educational or future professional benefits to the intern related to connections, experience, and skill building, they also pose clear barriers to prospective professionals who can not afford to forego income to be an intern. Our program seeks to improve the handling of interns in a different concrete way, by clarifying the criteria of an intern to ensure that internships of Living Wage Certified employers meet educational and compensational standards that justify the exemption and are not simply a means of acquiring cheap or free labor, which is a common abuse of the internship model across the United States.
Just Economics will continue to analyze and consider this exemption, and as a matter of achieving worker-justice, encourages all employers to consider the compensation, educational or non-monetary value, and equitable access to their internships.
Looking Ahead
In conjunction with these changes, Just Economics is better-integrating tracking of worker-types and categories to better understand the makeup of the Living wage Certified workforce, and to what extent program changes impact workers and their employers. In 2026, we plan to continue researching and improving methodologies and deployment of Certification in our ‘Rural’ program outside of Buncombe County, better-understanding and evaluating our ‘Pledged’ program in its 4th year, and identifying the impacts of this year’s significant program changes on workers, employers, and engagement with the program in the broader community.
All interested community members are encouraged to provide input and join in our work as a partner in asking questions and forming solutions by attending a Just Economics Quarterly General Meeting, joining the public Certification Committee, or reaching out directly to Just Economics staff. In a local economy, sustainability means sustainability for all, and only through deep and dynamic public involvement in the process can our program improve in a manner that serves its mission to workers and to the community at-large.