Gov. Wolf outlines plan to raise Pa.'s minimum wage to $15 by 2027

Gov. Tom Wolf on Tuesday joined Democrats in the General Assembly to lay out a plan to raise the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour effective in July. From there, he said, the wage would be raised 50 cents a year until it reaches $15 by July 2027.

“Our commonwealth’s essential workers deserve better,” Wolf said during a virtual news conference. “Pennsylvania workers are being left behind, and all of us are suffering for it.”

Wolf was joined by State Sen. Christine Tartaglione, D-Philadelphia County, and State Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin , as well as a Harrisburg business owner to offer support for the plan. Tartaglione and Kim are supporting bills in the Senate and House, respectively, to raise the minimum wage, and both have penned letters to Pennsylvania lawmakers in Congress, asking them to support federal measures to raise the wage.

“We can give people more support by adding to their hourly wages,” Kim said. “This is not going to make them rich or solve all their problems, but it will give them a little bit more slack in life.”

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage of $7.25 an hour is among the lowest in the country. Wolf noted many low-wage workers in the state could be making more by doing the same job in at least 29 other states.

Pennsylvania has not had a significant increase to the minimum wage in more than a decade, despite climbing costs of living and rising executive salaries. Meanwhile, several states neighboring the commonwealth have passed legislation to do so — including New Jersey, Maryland and New York. Creating a path to $15 an hour will raise the incomes of more than 1.1 million Pennsylvania workers.

But some local business owners in Western Pennsylvania say raising the wage — especially during an economic recession brought on by the covid-19 pandemic — would cause too much damage to their bottom line.

Joe Kolek, owner of the Anchor Inn in Natrona Heights, said his business already is struggling to maintain itself operating with 25% indoor dining capacity. Raising the minimum wage for certain workers would reduce profit margins even further, he said.

“We could not operate,” he said. “Do you know what a cheeseburger would cost?”

Kolek added that he sees minimum wage and living wage as two different things. A minimum wage job “teaches someone to learn to work,” he said, and was never meant to support someone’s livelihood. He doesn’t see it as the responsibility of a business to pay all workers a living wage — especially at restaurants, he said, because “there are certain jobs you can’t afford to pay that kind of money.”

But during the news conference, Wolf argued paying workers “fairly” would benefit businesses and business owners by increasing productivity and providing more spending money to consumers for stimulating the economy. It also would reduce the burden of taxpayer-funded social services and increase tax revenue, he said. Wolf’s plan also includes a personal income tax cut for 2.8 million Pennsylvania residents, which he said would help small-business owners, too.

“The economic literature — it’s very hard to find any indication that actually treating your employees more fairly ends up being worse for your business,” Wolf said.

Many minimum wage workers in the state are adults trying to make a living, Wolf and the legislators said. Of the 1.1 million Pennsylvania residents who stand to get a pay raise from the legislation, 75% are 20 or older and nearly 40% work full-time. Six out of 10 are women, they said, arguing that raising the wage is a step toward closing the gender pay gap.

Peter Leonard, CEO of Little Amps Coffee in Harrisburg, added it’s not workers’ responsibility to keep businesses afloat — it is the responsibility of business owners, he said, to adapt and take care of employees.

“If you treat people with respect and dignity and do your best to help them earn a living wage, what you will get back is almost invaluable,” he said.

Wolf and legislators echoed the sentiment that raising the minimum wage adds up to more than an economic measure. It’s a moral one, they said.

“Raising the minimum wage will help workers. It will bring more money into local businesses. It will stimulate our economy. But most importantly, it is the right thing to do,” Wolf said.