A divided state house voted 103-100 to increase the state minimum wage yesterday.
This legislation would increase the minimum wage in Pennsylvania to:
$11.00 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2024.
$13.00 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2025.
$15.00 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2026.
There would be annual cost-of-living increases beginning in 2027. The bill would also set the minimum wage for tipped workers at 60% of the hourly minimum wage – which has been stuck at $2.83 per hour since the 20th century.
Locally, the legislation was supported by Democrats Bob Freeman, Jeanne McNeill, Steve Samuelson, Mike Schlossberg, Joshua Siegel and Pete Schweyer. It was opposed by Republicans Ryan MacKenzie, Milou MacKenzie, Zach Mako, Ann Flood and Joe Emrick.
Will the Republican-controlled state senate follow suit?
Unlikely.
11 comments:
All this hemmin and hawin....tie it to the cost of living like it should have when it was first established. It wont put a burden of employers. I worked at a place where I was privy to the bidding process. These people had the nerve to cite increased labor costs in their bids. They never awarded raises.
A value meal at fast food cost.$12. Definitely should not have to work more than an hour to pay for ones meal that fast food worker makes.
No matter how you ‘slice’ it, those restaurant meals will continue to rise. ALL wage increases are passed down to the consumer. There is no product you want that remains stable in price when wages rise. So, what’s the employee’s actual gain here?
PA Democrats want to more than double the current minimum wage and then tie future raises to increases in inflation?
What a recipe for disaster!
We’re currently having economic problems and inflation because of out-of-control government spending, and government forcing private businesses to raise their wages is no different.
This proposal will cause even more inflation, cost people jobs, and put even more people into poverty.
Democrats suck at math, and obviously have learned nothing from history.
I've heard your arguments many times. There is data suggesting the impact on inflation would be minimal and that and unemployment while other studies suggest the reverse. Also, if employers must pay more, the lives of those being paid could improve or employers might reduce hours.
What I do know is that PA last raised the minimum wage to $7.25 in 2007. All surrounding states pay higher minimum wages, even W Virginia ($8.75). It needs to go up.
https://krc-pbpc.org/issues/minimum-wage/
I don't understand how people can be so dumb on basic economic principles. Wages are an OUTPUT, not an INPUT. You can't arbitrairly guarantee a wage. Wages are a product of costs and profits. Furthermore, a minimum wage eliminates any leverage that an undereducated or underskilled applicant has by offering to do the job for less. Minimum wages take that negotiating power away from those most vulnerable. If someone is willing to work for less than minimum wage, juat to have a job, who is the government to say that applicant and employer cannot agree?
Can anyone tell me who’s paying 7.25 an hour around here? McDonald on 248 paying 15 for closing shift. The market seems to have set the floor on wages.
This is government trying to get involved where they don't need to be.
Who is paying $7.25?
Amazon is hiring unskilled workers in the mid-$20 range. Dorney Park is even paying $15 for kids to work as seasonal employees.
For the few jobs left that might still be paying that amount, there is likely a reason.
There is truly no reason for the government to get involved in raising the minimum. If anything, they should do away with it.
If they still want to have a minimum wage, let our lawmakers have the courage to raise our taxes and subsidize the workers they believe should be getting more. Then we'd know the true cost of what they're forcing businesses to pass through to us.
Annon 4:39, I hear that argument over and over and for years. So, why would raising the minimum wage the little amount they are and gradually increasing it, create chaos if people already are making more money.
The chamber boys like little T Iannelli will complain because they do not want any conditions on employers. They have been fighting that since the 1800's This is about greed, profit margins and control. It will eventually destroy the American free enterprise system of government.
Annon 2:37, your argument is not valid in a nation of over 300million people. Modern society can no longer accommodate your way of one-on-one negotiating. The wild west if gone. Time to adapt to new realities.
I was in Harrisburg yesterday and asked another Dem how Siegle was doing. "Oh, he made an ass of himself on the floor speaking on the minimum wage increase" Seems his peers know who he is for all the wrong reasons. Keep it classy A-Town.
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