HARRISBURG — Democrats are mounting a campaign to increase the state’s minimum wage to as much as $10.10 an hour, giving Pennsylvania the highest statewide rate in the country.
Only the District of Columbia, scheduled to increase to $11.50 an hour in July 2016, would have a higher minimum wage.
Not all Democrats are as enthusiastic about the $2.85 per hour raise, and one Republican, Sen. Scott Wagner of York County, has proposed boosting pay to $8.75 an hour by 2017.
State Rep. Mark Longietti, D-Mercer County, said the economy has recovered, but wages haven’t kept pace. “It is time we increase the minimum wage,” he said.
But Longietti said he’d rather see an increase in the federal minimum wage, now $7.25 an hour.
He also expressed discomfort about setting a wage higher than those of Pennsylvania’s neighbors, including Ohio, which will use a $8.15 per hour minimum wage this year.
Twenty-nine states and the District of Columbia now have minimum wages above the federal level, including all of Pennsylvania’s neighbors. Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is currently tied to the federal rate, which has not changed since 2009.
While Democrats want a $2.85 per hour increase, Wagner’s more modest $1.50 per hour raise includes an exemption that keeps the $7.25 per hour rate for juvenile workers.
The difference between the plans is significant. More than a 850,000 workers get raises under the Democrats’ proposal but not Wagner’s, according to an analysis by the Keystone Research Center, a labor-linked think tank.
About 200,000 Pennsylvanians are paid minimum wage. Hiking it to $10.10 per hour gives raises to 1.27 million workers, according to the analysis, while Wagner’s plan raises wages for only 400,000 workers.
Wagner and other lawmakers note that even among industries associated with low pay — retail and food service — many businesses pay slightly better than minimum wage to attract employees.
Opposition to raising the minimum wage focuses on two arguments. One is that Pennsylvania shouldn’t adopt a wage higher than the federal rate — a view echoed by Bob Garrett at the Greater Susquehanna Valley Chamber of Commerce.
“We don’t think it would work well to have every state set its own minimum wage. It’s not a healthy situation,” Garrett said.
The other objection is that raising the minimum wage leads to increased costs, which are passed along to consumers, including senior citizens.
State Rep. Fred Keller, R-Union County, noted that Social Security payments won’t jump 39 percent if Pennsylvania hikes its minimum wage by $2.85. He said lawmakers ought to focus on other issues that more directly affect more people.
Supporters of a higher minimum wage say larger payroll costs are mitigated in the long run. Better paid workers are more productive and less apt to change jobs, which lowers training costs, said Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of the Business for a Minimum Wage campaign.
Barron-Menza’s group released data that show 61 percent of small business owners support an increase in the federal minimum wage.
The fact that dozens of other states have acted before the federal government affirms broad support for boosting the pay for the lowest paid workers, she said.
One of the more compelling arguments, she said, is that a higher minimum wage levels the playing field. She noted that while most employers pay better than minimum wage, some businesses exploit the law by offering cheap pay and forcing employees onto welfare programs to cover basic needs.
Proponents also say putting money in workers’ pockets boosts consumer spending and helps the economy.
The Keystone Research Center suggests that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 will create 6,000 jobs because of the increased buying power of the state’s lowest paid workers.
2015 Minimum wage in neighboring states
Delaware — $8.25 an hour
Maryland — $8 an hour
Ohio — $8.15 an hour
New Jersey — $8.38 an hour
New York — $8.75 an hour
West Virginia — $8 an hour
How they compare by cost of living
(Lower ranking reflects lower cost of living)
Ohio — 17th lowest cost of living in country
West Virginia — 31st
Pennsylvania — 32nd
Delaware — 35th
Maryland — 38th
New Jersey — 43rd
New York — 44th
(Source: Missouri Economic Research and Information Center, based on third quarter data for 2014)
Date:
February 22, 2015