A Fair Minimum Wage for Pennsylvania Workers and their Families- Clergy Materials
Across Pennsylvania the week of March 13 is a Week of Action for a Fair Minimum Wage. We encourage religious leaders to include the issue in worship services during that week to engage the faithful in efforts to aid the working poor of our state.
As people of faith we recognize that the causes of poverty are complex and that a comprehensive solution will include more than a single initiative. At the same time, an adequate minimum wage for all workers is an essential part of an overall strategy in addressing poverty.
In addition to the economic benefits it will bring to the entire economy, increasing the Pennsylvania minimum wage affirms both the value of work and the value to society of those who engage in it. Increasing the minimum wage will remove barriers that make it more difficult for many to pursue education or training or to attend to the needs of their families. More desperately for some, an increase will contribute to improved physical health.
The Pennsylvania minimum wage is only $7.25 and has not been raised since 2009. The legislature has not voted on the issue in ten years. Nearly 1.3 million workers and their families would get a raise if Pennsylvania would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour, which several bills have proposed. Almost 25% of these workers are parents and many are the sole support of their children. Tipped workers only receive $2.83 per hour and have not had an increase in 17 years.
Scripture speaks loudly on the need to offer working people a fair wage. For example,
James 5: 4 “Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.”
Malachi 3:5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against… those who oppress the hired worker in his wages”
Jeremiah 22:13 "Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, Who uses his neighbor's services without pay And does not give him his wages”
We urge people of faith to take up the issue of the Pennsylvania minimum wage. Legislation has been bottled up in committee since January of 2015, which means that there has been no opportunityto vote on the issue. Recent research shows that raising the PA minimum wage to $10.10 would generate $225 for the current Pennsylvania budget, which could help fund our schools and reduce the state deficit.
We encourage concerned citizens to contact their elected officials to support and allow a vote on a minimum wage of at least $10.10 per hour with a cost of living escalator, including eliminating the separate tipped minimum wage. Justice for all of our people requires a substantial increase in the Pennsylvania minimum wage.
For more information contact Raise the Wage PA at 215-557-0822 or email ,
Who will be affected by an increase in the Pennsylvania minimum wage to $10.10 per hours by July 2016
Workers currently making less than the increased minimum wage will be directly affected plus workers who make just above the new minimum wage will be indirectly affected by the “ripple effect” of an increase.
- 1,265,000 Pennsylvania workers would get an increase in pay.
- 58.6% of those affected will be women.
- 87% of those affected would be over age 20 (not teenagers).
- 73.4% of affected workers will be white.
- 36.4% of all Latino workers will get a raise with an increase.
- 32.3% of all Black workers will be affected.
- 29.6% of all Asian workers will be affected.
- 23.4% of affected workers have children.
- 40.3% of affected workers will have full time jobs.
- 83.6% of workers who will be affected by a minimum wage increase have a high school degree or more.
- 28.8% of affected workers will have some college education.
- 16.4% of affected workers who have children will be the only bread winner in their family.
Source: Economic Policy Institute analysis of Harkin-Miller minimum wage proposal using Current Population Survey Outgoing Rotation Group microdata
Prepared by Raise the WagePA112 N. Broad St. 11th Floor, Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-557-0822 Facebook.com/RaisetheWagePA,
Twitter: @RaisethewagePA
Minimum Wage Legislation in PA General Assembly – 2015-16
PA Senate
SB195 Senator Christine Tartaglione – D – Philadelphia County
Date: / Minimum Wage Set to:July 1, 2015 / $8.67 per hour
Jan. 1, 2016 / $10.10 per hour
Increased by annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning Jan. 1, 2017.Increases penalties for wage theft up to 2x subject wages plus wages themselves. Provides for increased fines.Increases record-keeping requirements for Dept. of Labor & Industry and for employers. Creates a Wage Enforcement Fund. Removes statewide preemption of local minimum wage laws.
SB196 Senator Christine Tartaglione – D – Philadelphia County
Date: / Tipped Minimum Wage Set to:July 1, 2015 / $3.95 per hour
Jan. 1, 2016 / 70% of minimum wage
Increases record-keeping requirements for Dept. of Labor & Industry
SB197 Senator Christine Tartaglione – D – Philadelphia County
Increasesminimum wage by annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning Jan. 1, 2016.
SB198 Senator Christine Tartaglione – D – Philadelphia County
Provides for additional fines for wage theft.Increases record-keeping requirements for Dept. of Labor & Industry and for employers. Creates a Wage Enforcement Fund.
SB199 Senator Christine Tartaglione – D – Philadelphia County
Outlaws deduction of credit card fees from employee tips.
SB836 Senator Daylin Leach – D – Delaware & Montgomery Counties
Raises the minimum wage (including tipped workers) to $15 per hour 30 days after passage. Increases minimum wage with annual cost of living adjustment beginning 1 year after passage.
SB610 Senator Scott Wagner – R – York
Date: / Minimum Wage Set to:July 1, 2015 / $7.75 per hour
July 1, 2016 / $8.25 per hour
July 1, 2017 / $8.75 per hour
Workers 18 and under are exempt from the raise. Includes language to reinforce the preemption of local minimum wage laws.
PA House
HB436 Representative Mark Cohen – D – Philadelphia County
Date: / Minimum Wage Set to:60 days after passage / $9.00 per hour
425 days after passage / $10.10 per hour
790 days after passage / $11.50 per hour
Date: / Tipped Minimum Wage Set to:
Upon passage / $3.83 per hour
365 days after passage / $4.83 per hour
730 days after passage / 70% of the minimum wage
Increased by annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning Jan. 1, 2017. Department of Labor & Industry must collect information on numbers of employers who violate act (including amounts of fines imposed) and publish it on their website (updated every six months). Removes statewide preemption of local minimum wage laws.
HB1694 Representative Mark Cohen – D – Philadelphia County
Date: / Minimum Wage Set to:90 days after passage / $9.00 per hour
365 days after passage / $10.50 per hour
730 days after passage / $12.50 per hour
795 days after passage / $13.50 per hour
1060 days after passage / $15 per hour
Increased by annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning 1 year after minimum wage reaches $15 per hour. Department of Labor & Industrymust collect information on numbers of employers who violate act (including amounts of fines imposed) and publish it on their website (updated every six months). Removes statewide preemption of local minimum wage laws.
HB250 Representative Patty Kim – D – Dauphin County
Date: / Minimum Wage Set to:6 months after passage / $9.00 per hour
12 months after passage / $10.10 per hour
Date / Tipped Minimum Wage Set to:
6 months after passage / 50% of the minimum wage
12 months after passage / 75% of the minimum wage
increased by annual cost-of-living adjustment beginning Dec. 31, 2016. Increases fines for wage theft. Removes statewide preemption of local minimum wage laws.
$1.8 Billion in additional income for low wage workers in PA with an increase to a $10.10/hour minimum wage.
Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour benefits over 1.2 million low-wage workers and boosts our economy
A person in Pennsylvania working full-time, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, earns only $15,080 annually, well below the poverty line for a family of two. Increasing the wage floor to $10.10 an hour and connecting the rate to inflation would increase the purchasing power of one million Pennsylvania workers and boost the state's struggling economy.
The state minimum wage and the tipping minimum wage- The minimum wage has remained stagnant at $7.25 an hour since 2009.
- The minimum wage for tipped workers is only $2.83 an hour.
- Neither wage rises with inflation, meaning the purchasing power of workers is decreasing.
- This decline is not due to economic necessity. Since 1968, the U.S. economy has expanded greatly and our ability to produce goods and services for the same amount of work has doubled.
- However, the purchasing power of the minimum wage declined by 24% in the last 46 years.
- The minimum wage would be $10.65 if it has risen at the same wage rate as the typical American worker and it would be $18.30 if the wage had grown with productivity.
Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour helps more than one million workers in Pennsylvania[1]
- The vast majority (87%) of people who would see their wages go up are adults in their prime working years, not teenagers, as some have claimed.
- Half (50.3%) of workers who will benefit from a minimum wage increase work full time and another third (32%) work more than 20 hours per week.
Eliminating the tipped minimum wage is critical
- The tipped minimum wage at $2.83 has not changed since 1998.
- When tips fall short, low-wage workers, who are predominantly women, have unstable incomes that fall short of minimum wage.
- Tipped workers earn more in states with a higher tipped minimum wage and the gap in earnings between tipped workers and workers overall is smaller the higher the tipped minimum wage is in a state. In other words, a good way to reduce inequality in a state is to raise the tipped minimum wage.
Working families benefit from a $10.10 an hour minimum wage
- The earnings of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families' well-being. Nearly a quarter (23.4%) of the workers benefiting from raising the minimum wage are parents with children.
- The average parent working minimum wage earns over half of their family’s income.
- Nearly one in five children (19.5%) have a parent who would be helped by raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.
Raising the minimum wage will help close the wage gap for women
- Nationwide women earn only 77% of what their male counterparts make – leaving a wage gap of 23 cents on the dollar.
- The majority (58.6%) of workers getting a raise from a $10.10 minimum wage are women.
- Women make up over three-quarters of the tipped workforce.
- Raising the minimum wage is an important step towards fair pay for women – especially women of color.
Pennsylvania workers are falling behind those in the majority of states
- Already 29 states, including all of the states bordering Pennsylvania, have a higher minimum wage than Pennsylvania.
- Momentum is building in states across the county to raise the minimum wage. In 2014, state legislatures voted to raise the minimum wage in Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. enacted increases.
- The voters in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota approved minimum wage increases through ballot measures in the 2014 general election.
- Minimum wages went up in nine states on Jan. 1, 2015 due to indexed increases in state law: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, Oregon, and Washington.
- The majority of Pennsylvania workers who would see their incomes rise are white (74%), along with 36.4% of Latino workers, 32.3% of African American workers would benefit and 29.6% of Asian workers.
Increasing the minimum wage will boost the state's economy.
- Pennsylvania’s economy needs a boost. Job growth has been weak since 2010 and the state ranked 50th in the nation over the last four years. Slow job growth holds down wages for all of us.
- One way to get the economy going again is to put more money in the hands of the lowest-paid workers. With more income, workers here will do things like have their car repaired at the local service station or make a long-delayed trip to the dentist.
- Raising the minimum wage is a modest but important step towards creating an economy powered by good jobs.
Week of Action for a Fair Minimum Wage
Week of March 13, 2016
- The Pennsylvania Legislature has not even voted on the minimum wage for 10 years.
- Every state surrounding PA has raised their minimum wage.
- The minimum wage for tipped worker is only $2.83 and hasn’t been raised for 17 years.
- Republican leadership refuses to allow a vote on the minimum wage, despite over 2/3s of PA citizens supporting a $10/hour minimum, including 53% of Republicans.
- Support over 1.2 million PA workers who would get a raise if the minimum wage went to $10.10/hr. Over 2 million would get a raise at $15/hr.
- A minimum wage of $10.10 would generate increased economic activity and $225 million for the state budget to help with schools and the deficit.
- Contact Raise the Wage PA, a state wide coalition of over 60 organizations, at 215-557-0822 to find an action in your community.
It’s Time for a Raise for Pennsylvania’s Working Poor!
Raise the Wage PA 112 N. Broad St. Philadelphia, PA 19102 215-557-0822
Scripture from the Bible, Torah and Koran on wage justice
Colossians 4:1ESV / 8 helpful votes
Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.
James 5:4ESV / 7 helpful votes
Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Ephesians 6:9ESV / 7 helpful votes
Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
1 Timothy 5:18ESV / 5 helpful votes
For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
Luke 10:7ESV / 5 helpful votes
And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.
Leviticus 19:13ESV / 5 helpful votes
“You shall not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until the morning.
Ephesians 6:5-8ESV / 4 helpful votes
Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free.
Malachi 3:5ESV / 4 helpful votes
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says theLordof hosts.
Leviticus 25:43ESV / 4 helpful votes
You shall not rule over him ruthlessly but shall fear your God.
Genesis 2:15ESV / 4 helpful votes
TheLordGod took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
1 Timothy 5:17-18ESV / 3 helpful votes
Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.”
Colossians 3:22-25ESV / 3 helpful votes
Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
1 Corinthians 9:14ESV / 3 helpful votes
In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.
Luke 6:38ESV / 3 helpful votes
Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
Matthew 20:1-16ESV / 3 helpful votes
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ...
Matthew 6:24ESV / 3 helpful votes
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
1 John 1:9ESV / 2 helpful votes
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 Peter 2:18ESV / 2 helpful votes
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.