Wolf raising minimum wage for state workers
HARRISBURG (AP) – Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is raising the minimum wage by nearly $3 an hour, to $10.15, for state government employees and workers on jobs contracted by the state.
The Democrat signed an executive order Monday establishing the new wage minimum. It’ll affect a few hundred state employees and a narrow set of state contracts.
Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled Legislature hasn’t considered Wolf’s request to set the minimum at over $10 for everyone. Pennsylvania wages are set at the decade-old federal minimum of $7.25 an hour, like 20 other states.
Without federal action, numerous mayors are bumping employee wages higher, some to $12 or $15 an hour.
Democrat Andrew Cuomo used his power as New York’s governor to order gradual wage increases for state employees, state university employees and workers at fast-food chain restaurants, to $15 an hour.