Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has remained at the federal minimum of $7.25 per hour for the last 10 years, which is at least $1 less than every neighboring state.
There are now three different proposals in Harrisburg to raise it.
A bill awaiting action in the Senate would incrementally raise the minimum hourly wage to $15 by 2024. Gov. Tom Wolf has called on lawmakers to raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour, and his Republican opponent for governor, Scott Wagner, supports raising the hourly wage to $8.75.
“If it were brought to an up or down vote, I think a reasonable, modest increase would actually pass both houses of the legislature,” Wolf said. “Why there’s reluctance to bring it up for a vote, I’m not sure.”
According to the Keystone Research Center, raising the minimum wage to $9 per hour would raise the wages of nearly 800,000 Pennsylvania workers.