A new bill ratified by the N.C. General Assembly Tuesday will raise the minimum wage by $1 effective July 1, 2007.

Although the hike may put more money into the pockets of some workers, students, faculty and staff will likely not see the benefits.

According to Vice Chancellor for Human Resources Barbara Carroll, wages for full-time employees at the University are determined on the basis of the state personnel minimum, which raises the bar on employee paychecks. University employees can earn a minimum of $21,218 per year, Carroll said. That equates to $10.20 an hour.

“We’re already paying staff positions above minimum wage,” she said. “The state itself pays better.”

She also said most students in temp jobs around campus are also paid more than the minimum wage. For the whole campus, she said, fewer than 20 jobs pay less than $6 an hour.

According to Julie Mallette, director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, the same goes for students participating in work study programs.

“[Employers have] learned that they have to compete for students or they’re not going to work,” she said. “They’ve paid above the minimum wage for quite some time.”

Mallette said even her office, which offers work-study positions, pays around $8 an hour.

In fact, according to Nell Summerlin, assistant director of the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, only five of the 582 types of jobs campus employers offer pay less than the new minimum wage of $6.15.

Sen. Janet Cowell, who was in favor of the legislation, said the lack of impact does not make the University community unique. She said the people who will benefit most from the legislation reside not in Wake County, but in areas of Eastern and Western North Carolina.

Although she said the bill, supported by about 80 percent of North Carolina voters, was one of the General Assembly’s most popular, it did face some resistance. Some industry advocates, like restaurant associates, often claim paying workers more hurts business.

Cowell said however, that this was not the case.

“There’s no empirical evidence that raising the employee wage contributes to lost jobs or unemployment,” Cowell said. “That’s not the case, not the consequence.”

The bill may not be completely without effect, however.

“You may pay an extra dime for that burger,” Cowell said.

But not all businesses are against the hike. Travis Hunter, a manager at Schoolkids Records on Hillsborough Street, said he supported the bill.

“It’s a good thing to face the fact that people can’t live off that,” he said.

About half of the employees at the store were students, he said, and all of them are paid above the minimum wage. He also said, he hoped the store owner would give employees an across-the-board raise in response to the bill.

In the meantime, Cowell said she’s not too worried that many business will face harm from the pay raise.

“By necessity, McDonalds isn’t moving to Malaysia,” Cowell said. “They’re going to have to be here.”