Editorial Standards \u24d8<\/a><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\tResidents and businesses in Harrisburg are reacting to the potential increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 for more than 15 years, with many expressing hope for change while acknowledging the state’s lag behind neighboring regions.Kayla Cabrera, manager at Niko’s Pizza, questioned, “How do you live off of $7.25?”Bordain Smith, a Harrisburg resident, shared his disbelief, saying, “That is crazy.” He reflected on his experience, stating, “I started working when I was 14 years old at McDonald’s in my local area, and it was $7.25 then. To think that you know 10 years later that it’s still the same price, I think that’s outrageous.”Surrounding states increase minimum wageMany surrounding states have already increased their minimum wage, with some surpassing the proposed $15.Smith believes that while $15 isn’t enough, it’s a positive step forward. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. I would say, you know, it’d be hard to find somewhere to live off of $15 a day right now, but you know it’s definitely something that’s going to help compared to $7.25,” he said.Democratic Rep. Nikki Rivera, who represents East Petersburg and parts of Manheim Township and Lancaster City, agrees with the need for change. “If there’s somebody that you value in hiring, then you value in paying them an affordable living wage. $15 gets us closer to that number. It doesn’t reach it, but it gets us closer than $7.25,” Rivera said.Lawmakers concerned that customers would bear expenseHowever, some lawmakers have raised concerns about the impact on small businesses. They argue that if businesses are required to pay employees $15 an hour, the cost will likely be passed on to consumers, potentially doubling the price of items like hamburgers.Cabrera addressed the claim that customers would bear the expense, noting, “I don’t even know if the customer has to really pick it up on the backend, you know, like people raise their prices all the time.”Importance of paying employees a livable wageShe emphasized the importance of paying employees a livable wage, saying, “To keep a good employee, you need to pay your employee. You need to make sure they have a livable wage so they can pay their bills, come to work, get their kids to daycare, so at the end of the day, I think it’s worth it to pay your employee more.”The vote on the minimum wage increase has passed the House, but it remains unclear when or if the Senate will take it up for a vote.\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tHARRISBURG, Pa. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Residents and businesses in Harrisburg are reacting to the potential increase in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has remained at $7.25 for more than 15 years, with many expressing hope for change while acknowledging the state’s lag behind neighboring regions.<\/p>\n
Kayla Cabrera, manager at Niko’s Pizza, questioned, “How do you live off of $7.25?”<\/p>\n
Bordain Smith, a Harrisburg resident, shared his disbelief, saying, “That is crazy.” He reflected on his experience, stating, “I started working when I was 14 years old at McDonald’s in my local area, and it was $7.25 then. To think that you know 10 years later that it’s still the same price, I think that’s outrageous.”<\/p>\n
Surrounding states increase minimum wage<\/p>\n
Many surrounding states have already increased their minimum wage, with some surpassing the proposed $15.<\/p>\n
Smith believes that while $15 isn’t enough, it’s a positive step forward. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. I would say, you know, it’d be hard to find somewhere to live off of $15 a day right now, but you know it’s definitely something that’s going to help compared to $7.25,” he said.<\/p>\n
Democratic Rep. Nikki Rivera, who represents East Petersburg and parts of Manheim Township and Lancaster City, agrees with the need for change. “If there’s somebody that you value in hiring, then you value in paying them an affordable living wage. $15 gets us closer to that number. It doesn’t reach it, but it gets us closer than $7.25,” Rivera said.<\/p>\n
Lawmakers concerned that customers would bear expense<\/p>\n
However, some lawmakers have raised concerns about the impact on small businesses. They argue that if businesses are required to pay employees $15 an hour, the cost will likely be passed on to consumers, potentially doubling the price of items like hamburgers.<\/p>\n
Cabrera addressed the claim that customers would bear the expense, noting, “I don’t even know if the customer has to really pick it up on the backend, you know, like people raise their prices all the time.”<\/p>\n
Importance of paying employees a livable wage<\/p>\n
She emphasized the importance of paying employees a livable wage, saying, “To keep a good employee, you need to pay your employee. You need to make sure they have a livable wage so they can pay their bills, come to work, get their kids to daycare, so at the end of the day, I think it’s worth it to pay your employee more.”<\/p>\n
The vote on the minimum wage increase has passed the House, but it remains unclear when or if the Senate will take it up for a vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LIVE FROM HARRISBURG WITH MORE ON WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY ABOUT THIS. MICHAEL. WELL, LORI AND JERRY,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":149093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[68073,60,525,2924,2908,68074,14704,68079,68075,13550,17060,68076,14256,68080,5715,68077,28,30,29,68078,65488,85,78],"class_list":["post-149092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bordain-smith","tag-business","tag-change","tag-customer","tag-dauphin-county","tag-democratic-rep-nikki-rivera","tag-employee","tag-harrisburg-resident","tag-harrisburg-residents","tag-importance","tag-item","tag-kayla-cabrera","tag-lawmaker","tag-livable-wage","tag-manager","tag-nikos-pizza","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-potential-minimum-wage-increase","tag-same-price","tag-state","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=149092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/149092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=149092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=149092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=149092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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