Myth-busting Pa. minimum wage: Who would make more if it increases to $15

In Philadelphia and the four Pennsylvania counties that surround it, about 399,000 people would see their income increase if the state raised the minimum wage to $15.

Gov. Josh Shapiro once again proposed that change in his second budget address on Tuesday, repeating a proposal from last year and reiterating the call by his predecessor, Tom Wolf. Discussing the current $7.25 hourly minimum wage on Tuesday, Shapiro said it’s “anticompetitive and it’s hurting our workers.”

This year, state legislators from both major political parties seem to believe a minimum-wage increase can happen. Shapiro noted that a minimum wage bill has already passed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and said he’s “encouraged to see the comments of the leaders in the Senate who have shown a willingness to engage on this issue.”

If it does, the majority of workers in the Philly region who would see a pay bump are people of color. Nearly half work full time, and over a quarter are parents whose children live with them. About 40% have taken at least some college classes.

Just 14% in the region are teens. And in Philadelphia, specifically, that drops to 8%.

Angela Valvano, executive director of worker-advocacy group Better PA, said that data refutes one of the “oft-repeated assumptions” about minimum-wage and low-wage workers: that they’re mostly “teenagers working summer jobs.”

The data comes from the Keystone Research Center, an organization that researches economic equity issues and has been advocating for an increase in the minimum wage.

The organization analyzed the likely effects of state legislation that would bump Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15, using U.S. Census Bureau data and estimates from the Economic Policy Institute, a national think tank with a similar focus on issues affecting low-income workers.

Keystone researchers announced the findings of the report this month, at an online event including state lawmakers, all Democrats, who spoke about the impact to their districts.

28% of workers who would benefit have a child of their own who is under 18 living in their household.

“We dispel some really persistent myths” in the new report, said Claire Kovach, a senior research analyst for the Keystone Research Center. She noted that the people most affected in the state are working in industries that are expected to see increasing demand, including health care and social assistance.

Some workers currently earning $15 per hour or more are also likely to be affected if the minimum wage increases, Kovach noted. These “indirectly affected workers,” she said, would extend out to those making about $17.25 per hour now.

The researchers and legislators said that’s a good thing.

“When folks on the middle and low end of the economy make more money, they spend it,” said Rep. Justin Fleming. “It’s good for business owners and it’s good for other workers.”

Fleming noted that in his own House district in Dauphin County, more than 6,000 workers are making less than $15 per hour, and about 30% of them are parents of minors.

“It’s not like these are folks who are single and trying to make it on their own,” Fleming said. “They’re raising families.”

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage is currently $7.25, same as the federal minimum wage, and it hasn’t changed since 2009.

The Pennsylvania House, which has a Democratic majority, passed a bill in June that would have increased the state minimum wage to $11 at the start of 2024, $13 in 2025, and $15 in 2026. A similar bill was introduced in the state Senate.

While that legislation did not make it over the finish line last year, Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican, has said raising the minimum wage is on the table for 2024.

All of the states bordering Pennsylvania have higher minimum wages. New Jersey and Delaware are among the 22 states where minimum wage increased effective Jan. 1. In Delaware, it reached $13.25 per hour (it will go up to $15 in 2025), and in New Jersey it’s now $15.13.

“The legislature in every state around us has gotten the memo,” said Stephen Herzenberg, executive director of Keystone Research Center. “We’re actually hurting employers … we’re losing workers because they’re going across the borders to get a living wage.”