Wolf increases minimum wage for some workers

Posted 8/21/12

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf seems to be taking a page out of New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s playbook. Wolf, like Cuomo, can’t convince his state’s legislative body to …

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Wolf increases minimum wage for some workers

Posted

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf seems to be taking a page out of New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s playbook. Wolf, like Cuomo, can’t convince his state’s legislative body to increase the minimum wage for workers across the board, so like Cuomo, Wolf has passed an executive order to increase the minimum wage for some workers in a move he can make unilaterally.

The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, one of the lower minimums in the country. Wolf’s order would set the minimum for state workers and those who work for state contactors to $10.15. The executive order is likely the only way that Wolf can achieve any progress in this area, because the Democratic governor is still locked in a battle with the Republican-controlled House and Senate over this year’s and next year’s budgets.

Wolf signed the executive order, and while there are very few state workers that make less than $10.15 per hour, Wolf said the action is significant.

“Since the beginning of my administration, I have made creating good paying jobs, increasing efficiency, and achieving cost savings in state government top priorities,” said Wolf. “An increase in the minimum wage will achieve efficiency and cost savings for state government, reduce state expenditures on income support programs, and give valued employees a well-deserved raise.”

According to a press release from Wolf’s office, “The inflation-adjusted hourly earnings of the bottom fifth of Pennsylvania workers are lower today than they were in 1979. The current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour has 18% less purchasing power than the minimum wage had in 1979. A full-time, year-round worker earning the current minimum wage earns less than the federal poverty threshold for a family of two. Studies have consistently shown that increases in the minimum wage have not reduced the employment of low-wage workers.”

Not surprisingly, Republicans criticized the move. Sen. Jake Corman issued a statement on what he called Wolf’s symbolic executive order: “With this action, Gov. Wolf again demonstrates that he has absolutely no ability or desire to work with the legislature on policy initiatives... choosing to take symbolic executive action on this issue instead of working with the legislature underscores his failures to collaborate.”

Like 20 other states, Pennsylvania is pegged to the federal minimum wage rate of $7.25 an hour, which was fixed at its current rate 10 years ago. The mayors of some of Pennsylvania cities, such as Pittsburg Mayor Bill Peduto, are in the process of, or are considering moving the minimums of their cities even higher than $10.15 to $12 or more.

Some 14 states now have minimum wages that are higher than $10 per hour.

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