Rep. Mark B. Cohen
202nd Legislative District
Philadelphia County		 Majority Chairman
Minimum Wage Information

VICTORY! New Minimum Wage

Has taken effect on January 1, 2007 And July 1, 2007 respectively.

On July 9,2006 Gov. Rendell signed legislation to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage, which has gone unchanged along with the federal minimum of $5.15 per hour for the last nine years. Democrats have been asking for immediate increases in the Pennsylvania minimum reaching $7.15 by January, then providing for automatic cost of living increases. After a long bitter legislative battle, the House passed my bill (H.B. 257) in April of 2005. The Senate included compromise language in S.B. 1090 in 2006, sponsored by Sen. Tina Tartaglione which was sent to the governor.

The new minimum wage rates are as follows:

  • $6.25 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007
  • $7.15 an hour beginning July 1, 2007

Part of the compromise was an amendment providing for a lower training wage for young people equal to 85 percent of the new minimums and would also allow employers with 10 or fewer employees to have more time to reach the minimum wage target of $7.15.

For employers with 10 or fewer employees:

  • $5.65 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2007
  • $6.65 an hour beginning July 1, 2007
  • $7.15 an hour beginning July 1, 2008

New Legislation for 2007

House Bill 349 was introduced by Rep. Cohen in February of 2007 to raise the minimum wage again with indexed cost of living adjustments.

This bill amends the Minimum Wage Act to require the following three-step increase in the minimum wage, after the already required July 1, 2007 increase to $7.15/hr:

  • 1. Effective January 1, 2008, employers pay a minimum wage of $8.15/hr.
  • 2. Effective January 1, 2009, employers pay a minimum wage of $8.75/hr.
  • 3. Effective January 1, 2010, employers pay a minimum wage of $9.35/hr.

The bill also requires that on January 1, 2011 and each year after, the minimum wage would be adjusted for the increase in cost-of-living. This would be calculated by applying the percentage change in the CPI for all urban consumers for the Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland area, for the most recent 12 month period (as determined by U.S. Department of Labor). The Department of Labor and Industry would be responsible for calculating the annual adjustment.

Importance of Raising Minimum Wage

Increasing the minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.15 has affected 510,000, or 9.7 percent of Pennsylvania workers.

The increase in the federal minimum wage passed last year has fallen short in providing workers with a respectable wage that keeps families out of poverty. The new federal wage will not surpass the state minimum until 2009.

The Pennsylvania minimum wage is currently $7.15 per hour. If the minimum wage at its height in 1968 had been indexed for inflation, it would be over $8.87 today (calculated in year-end 2006 dollars).

As inflation erodes the value of the minimum wage we support efforts in this country to increase the minimum wage according to a cost of living adjustment in order to protect hard working families from falling back into poverty. House Bill 349 sponsored by Rep Cohen, if passed, will raise the minimum wage to $8.15/hr beginning January 2008; $8.75 in January 2008; and $9.35 an hour January 2010.

The bill also requires that on January 1, 2011 and each year after, the minimum wage would be automatically adjusted for any increase in the cost-of-living.