PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Pennsylvania to increase minimum wage statewide
by Rustbelt Radio Sunday, Jul. 09, 2006 at 1:05 PM
radio@indypgh.org (email address validated) 412-923-3000

Recently passed state legislation will raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania by $2 over the next year. Governor Rendell has pledged to sign the bill into law.

Legislation increasing Pennsylvania's minimum wage by $2 received final approval from state lawmakers last weekend in a 38 to 11 vote. Final approval will go to the desk of Gov. Ed Rendell, who has promised to sign it.

The bill calls for Pennsylvania's minimum wage to rise to $6.25 an hour on Jan. 1, 2007, then to $7.15 an hour on July 1, 2007. The increase will affect the 423,000 workers in Pennsylvania who make between $5.15 and $7.14 an hour. The wage changes will occur over the next two years.

The increase would take effect more slowly for employers with the equivalent of 10 or fewer full-time employees, although franchises of larger chains would not qualify for that exemption. Those employers that do qualify would pay $5.65 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007; $6.65 beginning July 1, 2007; and $7.15 on July 1, 2008.

Rendell's signature would make Pennsylvania the 22nd state to approve an increase in its minimum wage since Congress last raised the federal minimum wage to $5.15 in 1997.

Rendell said in a statement released Saturday quote :"We should not accept the fact that in our great commonwealth, and in our country, someone can work full time and still live well below the poverty level."

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