Could Pennsylvania’s minimum wage be going up, finally?

The House Labor and Industry Committee voted 12-9 along party lines to approve legislation that would increase the Commonwealth’s minimum wage incrementally through 2026.

House Bill 1500, sponsored by committee chair Rep. Jason Dawkins (D-Philadelphia), is a companion bill to one introduced in the state Senate (SB 743) by Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie). Dawkins describes his bill as a compromise with the Senate Republican Majority caucus.

Both the House and Senate bills would raise the current minimum wage of $7.25 to $11 per hour beginning on January 1, 2024 and to $13 per hour on January 1, 2025. The following year (1/1/26), the wage would rise again to $15 and increase by an annual cost-of-living adjustment using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

HB1500 would set Pennsylvania’s tipped employee wage at 60 percent of the minimum wage while SB743 would set the tipped wage at 40% of the minimum.

Pennsylvania’s minimum wage has been at $7.25 since 2009, while the tipped wage of $2.83 per hour has not been raised since 1997.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 30 states have a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Fifteen states have or will have their minimum wage increase tied to the CPI or other similar measures to provide automatic increases with inflation. The federal tipped minimum wage has been $2.13 per hour since 1991. Currently, 28 states have a higher tipped minimum wage rate above Pennsylvania’s current $2.83 per hour.

Pennsylvania Minimum Wage History

• 1968 ($2.65)
• 1979 ($2.90)
• 1980 ($3.10)
• 1981 ($3.35)
• February 1989 ($3.70)
• September 1997 ($5.15)
• January 2007 ($6.25)
• July 2007 ($7.15)
• 2009 ($7.25)