The notion that people who work should earn more than a poverty-level wage gradually has surrounded Pennsylvania and, perhaps by osmosis, even has surfaced in Harrisburg.
All six states bordering Pennsylvania now have higher hourly minimum wages than the commonwealth’s $7.25. Remarkably, none of them have suffered the economic calamity that opponents of minimum wage increases always predict. The bottom hourly wages in surrounding states are: Maryland and West Virginia, $8; Ohio, $8.10; New Jersey, $8.38; Delaware, $7.75; and New York, $8.75. In most of those states, the wages are intermediate steps on the way to higher minimums. Connecticut, meanwhile, has become the first state to authorize a 10.10 minimum wage by 2017.
Finally, several proposals to increase the minimum wage are on the table at the state Capitol.
One proposal, by Republican state Sen. Scott Wagner of York, would increase the wage to $8.75, but in three increments through 2017 and only for those 19 and older. The $7.25 wage would remain for workers younger than 19.
Gov. Tom Wolf, meanwhile, backs a bill by state Rep. Patty Kim, a Dauphin County Democrat, to boost the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour over two years.
According to an analysis by the left-leaning Keystone Research Center, the $10.10 increase would raise the wages of 1.27 million Pennsylvania workers by $1.9 billion over two years. The $8.75 proposal would raise the wages of 404,000 workers by $353 million over three years.
The increases at the lowest end of the wage scale substantially would increase consumer demand for goods and services, thus help to create jobs. According to the analysis, the higher rate would help to create 6,000 jobs whereas the lower rate would help to create 700 jobs.
According to the state Department of Labor and Industry, more than 70 percent of Pennsylvanians earning the minimum wage are adults and nearly 20 percent have at least one child. About 49 percent of bottom-wage workers are full-timers and another 20 percent work at least 20 hours weekly. Someone working 40 hours per week at $7.25 an hour earns $15,080 a year, well below the poverty rate for a family of two.
The Legislature should approve the higher rate. An earlier Pew study found that minimum wage increases cause some job displacement, but that the overall benefits for individuals and the economy far outweigh those losses.
Date:
February 14, 2015