Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Photo: Shutterstock

Gov. Tom Wolf on Jan. 30 proposed to raise Pennsylvania's minimum wage to $12 per hour, and set the state on a pathway to achieve a $15 hourly minimum wage by 2025. The pay hike would raise wages for 1 million workers in the state, according to a Wolf administration statement.

In a speech, Wolf stressed that the wage hike would allow tens of thousands of persons to work there way off of public assistance rolls, potentially saving millions in public money.

“Pennsylvania must be a place where hard work is rewarded. But our minimum wage hasn't changed in a decade and too many hardworking people are struggling to get by,” Wolf said.

“Raising the minimum wage lets people afford the basics, like food, rent and transportation.

“It also lets people work their way off of public assistance rather than having taxpayers subsidizing employers that are paying poverty wages. One fair wage saves tax dollars, grows the middle class and creates new customers for businesses, which benefits all of us.”

Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour since 2009. Over the decade, 29 states, including all of our neighboring states, have raised the wage floor for their workers.

Wolf's proposal raises the wage to $12 an hour July 1, 2019 with gradual 50 cent hourly wage increases until reaching $15 an hour in 2025.