Pennsylvania Reps. Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg) and Joe D’Orsie (R-Manchester) said the state will lose as many as 143,000 jobs if a bill to raise the minimum wage is passed.
Keefer and D’Orsie, members of the House Labor and Industry Committee, said the Minimum Wage Act, which would artificially double the state’s minimum wage, would decrease consumer spending power and cost jobs in sectors the bill is designed to help the most.
On Monday, the House passed HB 1500, which would increase the state minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15.00 per hour by 2026. The legislation would also require annual minimum wage hikes that would be tied to inflation data reported by the Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry. The legislation passed out of the Labor and Industry Committee and on to the House floor where it passed on a party-line vote.
Keefer and D’Orsie criticized the last-minute maneuvering by Democrats to pass the bill, which was fast-tracked without a hearing or economic analysis, the legislators said.
“The fact of the matter is 99 percent of workers make more than the minimum wage,” Keefer said. “There have been numerous myths parroted by House Democrats and their allies as they push through their plan to artificially set wages for workers. The bottom line is the bill would only harm Pennsylvanians.”
According to a study by the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), raising the minimum wage could lead to significant job losses, income reductions and small business closures. The study found that if the minimum wage increases to $15 per hour, more than 101,000 jobs would be lost over the next decade, with more than half of them (56 percent) coming from small businesses. The study estimated that the real economic output loss would exceed $13 billion by 2033, 51 percent of that coming from small businesses.
“The new study makes clear that the negative impact of this extreme, one-size-fits-all wage hike bill would fall disproportionately on Pennsylvania’s small employers, who are less able to plan for and absorb the aggressive increase in labor costs than larger corporate employers,” NFIB State Director Greg Moreland said. “If the minimum wage is more than doubled to $15 an hour as this bill requires, over 101,000 jobs would be lost over the next ten years. Pennsylvania’s small businesses are dealing with multiple financial hardships since the pandemic and state-mandated restrictions and lockdowns. Inflation, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, high fuel prices, spiking utility rates, and crushing taxes are dragging down Main Streets across Pennsylvania. Small business owners simply cannot afford Harrisburg politicians saddling them with such drastic labor cost increases.”
Keefer and D’Orsie said a study by the Independent Fiscal Office found that an increase to just $12 an hour would cause consumers to cover 65 percent of the added costs. Additionally, the study said only 63,600 workers in the state make minimum wage or less in 2022 and that 93 percent of them do not have children, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of workers at or below minimum wage fell by 43,000, the department said.
“This session Democrats have proven their affinity for legislating on emotion and feel-good talking points, but facts and data should carry the day,” D’Orsie said. “The facts tell a completely different story, and that is that this legislation, if enacted into law, will cost our economy jobs and tax revenue.”