Pa. officials call for hike in minimum wage
By ERIC SEIVERLING
eseiverling@yourmvi.com
State officials joined together Tuesday to show their support for health care workers and frontline employees.
Department of Labor and Industry Acting Secretary Jennifer Berrier and State Rep. Kyle Mullins, D-Lackawanna County, were joined by Thom Welby, chief of staff for State Rep. Marty Flynn, D-Scranton, and Dominick Cutro, a home health care worker from Scranton, during a virtual press conference on Zoom to discuss the need for raising the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour.
According to Gov. Tom Wolf’s office, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour since 2009, the minimum wage allowed by federal law. A full-time, year-round minimum wage worker earns $15,080 annually, less than the federal poverty threshold for a family of two. Twenty-nine states have a higher minimum wage and 21 states are increasing the wage floor this year.
In January of last year, Wolf proposed a minimum wage hike to $12 an hour, but state legislators haven’t acted on the proposal.
Nearby states that have raised the minimum wage in 2021 include Ohio to $8.80 an hour, Maryland to $11.75 an hour and West Virginia to $8.75 an hour.
Berrier said she hopes an increase to $12 an hour will open the possibilities of raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2027.
“Too many are paid too little for their families,” she said. “Every worker deserves to earn a living wage. They continued to go to jobs even though they were afraid.”
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