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Early Wage Adjustment
A act was proposed in 1913 alongside other pieces of legislation related to child and female labor. This bill looked to establish a three person board called the Wage Commission of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to investigate industries and determine what the appropriate minimum wage should be. This wage would be enforced and women and children would be paid at a rate less than this wage.

Active Legislation
The Minimum Wage Act of 1968 established the first state minimum wage at a rate of $2.65 that went into effect immediately. This held for about a decade until the raises to $2.90 and $3.10 on January 1 of 1979 and 1980. It was again raised to $3.35 an hour on the last day of 1980. The minimum wage was raised to $3.70 an hour on February 1st of 1989. Eight years later a large increase to $5.15 an hour went into effect on September 1st, 1997. Governor Ed Rendell championed the latest increase in the Commonwealth’s hourly wage rate. It increased to $6.25 an hour starting on the first day of the year in January of 2007 and then increased again to $7.15 an hour on July 1st, 2007. At this time the federal minimum wage was $5.15 an hour so the new PA rate was an increase that affected the wage workers earned. However, since July 24, 2009 the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 an hour so this is the current effective minimum wage in Pennsylvania.

Current Arguments
In the years since there have been several efforts to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage again. Current governor Tom Wolf has been very supportive of these efforts in his governorship. Tom Wolf has stated that he would like to raise the rate to $10.10 and further on the number he used became twelve dollars an hour. Tom Wolf as governor has often fought low wages by raising the wage for workers in areas where he can set the pay rate (government workers). He has signed an executive order to raise the minimum wage in the state and has looked for legislative cooperation. Pennsylvania Governor Wolf Signs Executive Order to Raise Minimum Wage, Calls on Legislature to Raise Minimum Wage Statewide. PR Newswire US.) Christine Tartaglione a Democratic State Senator has formulated an ambitious plan to drastically raise the minimum wage. Her intention is to help the lowest paid workers. This plan will raise the wage to fifteen dollars an hour by 2024 and keep raising in increments past this date. Patty Kim is another state senator that has a similar plan where the state will reach fifteen dollars an hour by 2024. Research has been conducted that seems to support the viability of such a plan. However, there is opposition. The National Federation of Independent Business released a report against this measure. It has been unable to come up for a vote but a colleague recently trying to put it in action using a discharge petition. Representative Dan Moul was able to shut down these efforts using arguments about a “taxpayer’s budget”. Pittsburgh City Councilor Dan Gilman has supported efforts to raise wages in both his city and the state as a whole. A stance of raising minimum wages seems to be popular in the city of Pittsburgh. He mentions a dynamic of nearby states having higher wages and lower unemployment and Pennsylvania standing on its own.