A recent history of efforts to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage

With a GOP lawmaker introducing a proposal to increase Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $11 an hour, conversations around raising Pennsylvania’s $7.25 minimum wage – something that hasn’t happened since 2009 – are beginning to heat up again in the state Capitol. 

For years, raising the commonwealth’s minimum wage has been a major priority of Democrats in Harrisburg – as well as some Republicans – but to date, the base wage hasn’t been raised in almost two decades. 

State Sen. Dan Laughlin, a Republican from Erie County, is hoping to change that. Laughlin recently sent a memo to colleagues seeking cosponsors for legislation that would raise the state’s minimum wage to $11 by 2028. The bill would increase the wage in phases, with the rate rising to $9 in 2026, $10 in 2027 and ultimately $11 beginning on Jan. 1, 2028. 

“This stagnant rate fails to reflect the rising cost of living and leaves thousands of hardworking Pennsylvanians struggling to make ends meet,” Laughlin wrote in his memo, referencing the current $7.25 rate. “As inflation erodes the purchasing power of low-income families, we have an obligation to ensure that those who work full-time jobs can afford basic necessities such as housing, food and healthcare.”

With the minimum wage once again part of policy conversations in Harrisburg, here is a synopsis of efforts to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania over the last 20-plus years. 

2006: Ed Rendell raises the wage

On July 9, 2006, then-Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, signed legislation into law that increased Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $7.15. 

The law, enacted in 2006, brought phased increases to the rate, raising it to $5.15 immediately, then increasing it to $6.25 in January 2007, then to $7.15 in July 2007. 

It also included preemption language, with the law stating that it “shall preempt and supersede any local ordinance or rule concerning the subject matter of this act.”

2009: PA’s minimum wage increases to align with federal standards

The state’s minimum wage increased again in 2009 – though not due to any action on the part of state officials. 

The federal minimum wage, outlined in the Fair Labor Standards Act, increased to $7.25 in 2009 – the last time it was raised at the federal level. Prior to that, the federal minimum wage was $6.55, following an increase that went into effect in July 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

2019: Bipartisan minimum wage deal falls through

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, made raising the minimum wage a key priority during his two terms in office. He routinely included minimum wage increases in his executive budget proposals, seeking an increase to $15 an hour. 

Ultimately, that $15 figure never came to fruition, but Wolf almost secured a modest increase to the minimum wage in 2019, when he struck a deal to revoke new, expanded overtime regulations sought by his administration in exchange for a smaller increase to the wage. 

The deal, which Wolf struck with Senate Republicans, would have raised the state minimum wage to $9.50 by January 2022. The proposal, Senate Bill 79, passed the Senate with a 42-7 vote on Nov. 20, 2019. However, the deal ultimately fell apart, as Republicans who controlled the state House at the time were not on board, and the bill died in the House Labor & Industry Committee without ever receiving a vote in the House.

2025: House Democrats advance most recent minimum wage proposal

Six years later, the tune in the state House is a bit different now that Democrats control the chamber. 

On June 11, House lawmakers passed House Bill 1549, which would raise the minimum wage in the commonwealth using a regional, tiered system – an effort designed to tie the wage to regional differences in the cost of living.

Under the proposal, Philadelphia – a county of the first class – would see its minimum wage rise to $15 an hour in January 2026. It would then be annually adjusted for inflation starting in January 2029. 

Other counties would see their minimum wage increase based on separate schedules outlined in the bill. The minimum wage in Allegheny County, the state’s second most-populous county, would increase to $12 an hour in 2026 and would eventually hit $15 in 2028 – as it would for some other second-class, third-class, fourth-class, fifth-class and sixth-class counties. 

The bill passed with a party-line vote in the state House, and now awaits consideration in the state Senate.