PENNSYLVANIA (WJAC) — Pennsylvania’s minimum wage may be going up for the first time since 2009.
A bill raising it to fifteen dollars an hour has passed in the state House of Representatives and now goes to the state Senate for debate.
Our Stace Landrum spoke with local business owners, and others, who are sharing their perspectives on the potential change.
House Bill 2189 would bring the state’s minimum wage up to eleven dollars an hour starting in 2026 and then bump it up to fifteen in 2029.
A lower training wage would be allowed for those nineteen and under, but only for sixty days.
If the bill passes in the Pennsylvania Senate, this will bring us in line with surrounding large states like Ohio, New York, and New Jersey, as well as some smaller ones like West Virginia, Maryland and Delaware.
But many worry about this driving up prices and increasing the unemployment rate in Pennsylvania.
Experts say there is also the possibility of pushing employers even more toward replacing human labor with automation and artificial intelligence.
But many local ‘mom and pop’ shops say they’re already paying a living wage.
“If you’re not, if you are a company that is paying people that can’t afford to eat in your establishment, to buy a birthday cake in your establishment, to enjoy the services that you offer, then what are you doing as a business owner?” — Chad Lamb, owner of Lamb Cakes Bakery in Johnstown.
“So, this may speed up the process of weaning the economy off of human labor and introducing more and more automated labor. And that’s a problem,” adds Brett Burkey, the director of education for the Florida Council on Economic Education.
Other states have also raised their minimum wage in incremental steps over time, and some say that Pennsylvania is running out of time.
Others worry that we have waited too long and raising it this much, this fast may be bad for business.
