Many things have changed within the past decade, but one thing that has remained the same is Pennsylvania’s minimum wage. We asked local leaders if Pennsylvania plans to keep up with New York and Ohio as they prepare to raise wages in the new year.

Since 2009 minimum wage in the state has been stuck at $7.25 an hour. It’s been nearly two decades since an increase and it’s currently uncertain whether the minimum wage will be raised in the coming year.

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State Representative Bob Merski said that a raise is well overdue. “I think there’s not an appetite from my friends on the other side of the aisle to address the issue and what has happened is they’ve kicked the can so far down the road now that it’s been decades. Imagine in your job or anyone else’s job if they haven’t got a raise in 10-15 years, how hard it would be to make ends meet,” he expressed passionately.

The Pennsylvania House Bill 1549, which proposes an increase of the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, was passed by the House and has moved to the Senate.

On the Senate side, Dan Laughlin said legislation he plans to reintroduce will update an outdated standard by gradually raising wages to what the market is already asking, eventually reaching $11 an hour.

See the statement below from Sen. Laughlin:

“The labor market has already driven wages higher across Pennsylvania. Many employers are paying well above the current minimum wage because that’s what today’s workforce demands. The legislation I plan to re-introduce simply recognizes that reality and updates an outdated law by gradually raising the wage floor.

This is not a shock to the system or a dramatic mandate, it’s a measured, phased-in approach that reflects what’s already happening in our economy, gives employers time to plan, and keeps Pennsylvania competitive with neighboring states.”

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We went to the community to see what residents think about the situation. One resident, Chloe Platt, believes that minimum wage is too low, “I feel like as the prices of stuff are going up, especially with inflation, I feel like people can’t even afford to live. Like my mom’s a single mom, she lives at home, she’s making $23 an hour and that’s not even enough to get by,” she said.

While Platt says that minimum wage should be higher, another resident told us that it shouldn’t even exist. “I feel that the businesses should decide on how much they need to pay their employees. Minimum wage was not meant to be a wage to live on; it was meant to be a wage to start with,” said Joe Romanowicz.

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Critics of raising the minimum wage also say that raising wages could drive up prices for customers.

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