New Push for Minimum Wage Hike in Pa.
A new effort to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania got underway Monday. Lawmakers filed a bill and advocates rallied in Harrisburg.
“State Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, announced she is reintroducing her legislation to increase the state’s minimum wage, which would help struggling families pay their bills and reduce their reliance on government assistance programs,” YourErie.com reports. “Kim’s bill would increase the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour to $9 per hour and then to $10.10 per hour a year later.”
Several other bills have also been introduced this session.
Lancaster Online points out the challenges such bills face: “But with Republican lawmakers dominating both chambers of state government, the legislation may never make it to the governor’s desk. Many legislators argue the focus of legislation should not be raising the minimum wage but to help people transition from low-level jobs to those that pay more.”
Two busloads of workers from Philadelphia attended Monday’s rally, KYW reports.
“No individual who is working 40 hours a week should have to rely on government assistance,” Samuel Jones of the Restaurant Opportunities Center told the station.
Research from the Keystone Research Center says hiking the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would give 1.27 million Pennsylvanians a raise.
