Skip to content
Apply
Stories

Pennsylvania marks minimum wage anniversary: Workers have been earning $7.25 for 13 years

People in this story

Pennsylvania is one of 20 states that hasn’t raised the 13-year-old federal minimum wage of $7.25. But Pennsylvania is the only such state in the Mid-Atlantic, according to the United States Department of Labor.

A 2021 PA Department of Labor report showed that minimum wage earners only represent 2.6% of all hourly workers in the commonwealth, but 70% of them are 25 years old or younger.

Richard Paulsen is an assistant professor of economics at Bloomsburg University. He is seeing a large portion of the youth population either earning a base wage, or even deciding to not join the workforce at all. One reason young people might not take a minimum wage job? The wage can’t buy as much as it used to.

Continue reading at WESA/NPR.

More Stories

How 20th century racial inequities shaped the housing crunch of the 21st

11.22.2023

Messy, resilient, ‘genius’: why this Northeastern food policy expert is thankful for SNAP

11.21.2023

FAQ: Annual climate negotiations are about to start. Do they matter?

11.27.23
All Stories