Gov. Tom Wolf proposes boosting minimum wage to $12 by July

Gov. Tom Wolf called for Pennsylvania to raise its minimum wage from $7.25 to $12 by the beginning of July.

Wolf has proposed plans to raise the state’s minimum wage, which was last raised in 2009, every year since he took office in 2015. Under his newest plan, the state would raise the minimum wage to $12 an hour on July 1, 2020 and raise that minimum by 50 cents every year until reaching $15 an hour in 2026.

“There’s momentum to finally raise the wage, but momentum in the Capitol doesn’t put food on the table in workers’ homes,” Gov. Wolf said. “Too many workers are still struggling to get by because Pennsylvania hasn’t raised the minimum wage in more than a decade. The cost of living goes up and Pennsylvanians wait as 29 other states, including all of our neighbors, raised the minimum wage for their workers.”

The minimum wage is $10.10 in Maryland, $10 in New Jersey, $8.75 in West Virginia, $8.55 in Ohio.

The increase to $12 in Pennsylvania would affect more than a million Pennsylvanians, and after reaching $15 those workers will generate an additional $300 million in state tax revenue, Wolf said. In addition, the administration says it would take nearly 93,000 adults off Medicaid.

“I’m grateful that Governor Wolf has once again included a living wage for Pennsylvanians as a budget priority,” said Rep. Patty Kim, D-Harrisburg. “We can’t sit back for another year and watch other states lead on minimum wage. We have lagged behind for too long while workers are working longer and bringing home less.”

Opponents of the increase question how a $4.75 jump in the minimum wage would affect small businesses with thin margins. That raise in the minimum wage could be even more harmful to the state’s local restaurants if the tipped credit system is eliminated as the governor has previously proposed, said Alex Halper, director of government affairs for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

“If the goal for lawmakers is to assist low income Pennsylvanians raising families, there are more targeted and strategic policies that would drive support to those families without triggering a negative impact on family businesses,” Halper said.