It's been 13 years since the last minimum wage hike for Pennsylvania workers, and the $7.25 hourly rate is worth far less now amid rising inflation.

The Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank, says a worker making $7.25-an-hour today is actually earning 27.4% less than a worker making the same amount when it became the federal minimum in 2009.

The federal adoption of a $7.25-an-hour national minimum wage made it the minimum in states like Pennsylvania by default.

And while state lawmakers could raise the bottom here at any time, they haven't, despite annual appeals from Gov. Tom Wolf to the GOP-led legislature. As a result, Pennsylvania continues to have one of the lowest rates and one of the longest stretches without a related hike in the country.

The Economic Policy Institute found that the federal minimum wage — and therefore Pennsylvania's — is at its lowest value since 1956.

THE CONTEXT: Pennsylvania is one of 20 states — and the only one in the mid-Atlantic region — that hasn't raised its minimum wage above $7.25.

Here's a look at the arguments for and against a hike in Pennsylvania and the likely impacts, published by Spotlight PA in March 2021. 

Richard Paulsen, an assistant professor of economics at Bloomsburg University, told WVIA last week that the lack of a minimum wage hike could have long-term consequences for younger workers who are most likely to earn it and more likely to opt out as inflation saps buying power.

In lieu of legislative action on this issue, Wolf has raised wages for state employees via executive order and for most tipped workers via a new regulation advanced by his Department of Labor & Industry. 

The latter takes effect Friday and applies to service industry workers whose base pay can be cut from $7.25-an-hour to $2.83-an-hour if they make more than $30 in tips a month. The new rule raises that bar to $135 in monthly tips, but some workers and employers say the impact will be negligible. 

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