The federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 for the last 14 years. In the United States, 40 million Americans work for minimum wage or make under $15 per hour, which is the minimum in many part of the US. This comes out to almost one out of every four working adults. And what’s more, a disproportionate number of these workers are Black, Latino, or women.
The minimum wage should be its definition: a wage that provides enough for a person to live by. Therefore, although the current minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is enough for a high school student working part-time to make pocket change, it is not enough for the majority of people who are affected by it: adults trying to make ends meet.
As of 2024, 25 out of 50 states have raised their minimum wage above the federal limit to around $15 per hour. However, Pennsylvania is not one of these states, keeping the state’s minimum wage in line with the federal minimum at $7.25 per hour. In comparison with the other states, Pennsylvania has the fourth lowest minimum wage in the United States.
Although all of the states surrounding Pennsylvania have raised their minimum wage, Pennsylvania hasn’t. Democratic members of the state senate attempted to enact a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $11 per hour in 2024, $13 per hour in 2025, and eventually $15 per hour by 2025. However, the bill was never voted on by the Republican majority senate in Harrisburg.
According to Investopedia, critics of raising the minimum wage explain why raising the minimum wage may not be beneficial and can hurt the economy in a couple of different ways. First, raising the minimum wage, they argue, will force many companies to increase prices to mitigate the increase in costs to pay employees. As a result, raising the minimum wage may cause inflation by forcing companies to increase their prices.
Additionally, smaller businesses may find it difficult, maybe even impossible, to meet the minimum wage, forcing them to shut down. The closure of small businesses could have two effects. First, it decreases the supply while the demand stays the same, causing an increase in prices and contributing to inflation. Second, with many small businesses closing, competition between companies could decrease and hurt innovation in various industries.
According to the Committee on Education and the Workforce Democrats, raising the minimum wage would actually help stimulate the economy. They explain that by increasing wages for workers, money will be injected into the economy through extra spending by the workers with higher wages.
The bottom 25% of workers may see their annual earnings increase between $1000 and $6000 dollars, which can provide desperately needed financial stability for emergencies and even everyday necessities like groceries.
Lilly Gallagher ’25 is a student worker who works at Sprinkle’s Bakeshop, where she makes minimum wage plus tips.
“Minimum wage is enough for a high schooler looking for some pocket money, but nowhere near a livable wage for an adult, who might have children and bills to pay,” Gallagher said.
The benefits of increasing the minimum wage outweigh the potential harms, for example, if it creates a hardship for small businesses, only full-time minimum wage workers or those with dependents should be guaranteed a higher minimum wage. Critics who say that raising the minimum wage will increase inflation miss the major fact that those working minimum wage already fall victim to rising inflation rates.
Additionally, raising the minimum wage could help to decrease racial and gender income disparities. Many times, the most important people that politicians should care for are the ones who need help most.
As raising the minimum wage has a direct and meaningful impact on those people, Pennsylvania should have raised the minimum wage to above $15 per hour.
Sources:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets-economy/090516/what-are-pros-and-cons-raising-minimum-wage.asp#:~:text=Opponents%20of%20raising%20the%20minimum,and%20result%20in%20job%20losses.
https://democrats-edworkforce.house.gov/imo/media/doc/FactSheet-RaisingTheMinimumWageIsGoodForWorkers,Businesses,andTheEconomy-FINAL.pdf