All but one member of the Democratic majority and two Republicans in the Pennsylvania state House voted on Tuesday to raise the state’s minimum wage.
H.B. 1500, which still has to pass the Republican-controlled Senate and be signed by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro to become law, would incrementally raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over four years and peg subsequent increases to inflation. The tipped wage would increase to $9 by 2026 from its current minimum, $2.83.
“After a long, hard battle, the Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus is raising the minimum wage,” House Speaker Joanna McClinton said after the vote, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star.
The value of the $7.25 minimum wage has depreciated dramatically since it took effect in 2009: A 2022 study from the Center for American Progress found that the federal minimum wage is worth 26% less than it was that year when adjusted for inflation.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 — and above — has been a major priority for progressives for the past decade. Fight for $15, a political and labor movement that in part grew out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, advocates for raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Together with labor unions and nonprofit organizations, the movement helped bring the fight to public attention with a series of nationwide strikes and a public advocacy campaign.
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