The minimum wage in PA has not been raised from $7.25 since 2009.  As inflation rises, the purchasing power of $7.25 has failed to keep pace.  A person making $7.25 an hour brings in about 15K annually. That's 200% below the poverty level for a family of 2. It is time to bring our state's minimum wage up to date.

Here are some reasons why the minimum wage should be increased to $15 an hour:

1. Raising the minimum wage would be a step closer eradicating gender inequality. Women are nearly three-quarters of minimum wage workers in Pennsylvania—a higher share than all but two other states. Women are also nearly three-quarters of Pennsylvania’s tipped workers. Raising the minimum wage would help single mothers support their families and live with dignity (Raise the Wage PA)

2. Raising the minimum wage won’t affect job creation. It is a myth that job growth will be stifled by increasing the minimum wage. (Center for Economic and Policy Research)

3. Raising the minimum wage can benefit communities and the broader economy, as workers spend their higher earnings at local businesses. Research indicates that following a $1 increase to the minimum wage, low-wage worker households spent an additional $2,800 the following year. Higher wages can also benefit employers by reducing turnover and increasing worker effort. (Raise the Wage PA)

4. A $15 minimum wage would begin to reverse decades of growing pay inequality between the lowest-paid workers and the middle class. For example, failure to adequately increase the minimum wage accounts for 48 percent of the increase in inequality between women at the middle and bottom of the wage distribution since 1979. (Economic Policy Institute)