Jun. 21, 2023
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania will lose as many as 143,000 jobs if the Democrat minimum wage bill becomes law, says House Reps Dawn Keefer (R-Dillsburg) and Joe D’Orsie (R-Manchester).
As members of the House Labor and Industry Committee, Keefer and D’Orsie have been outspoken critics of the Democrats’ last-minute maneuver to rush their minimum wage bill to a vote. The Minimum Wage Act, which artificially doubles the state’s minimum wage, was fast-tracked without a hearing or economic analysis.
“The fact of the matter is 99% 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 the Independent Fiscal Office study, an increase to just $12 an hour would cause consumers to cover 65% of the added costs. Coupled with skyrocketing inflation, the bill would greatly decrease consumers’ spending power.
The demographics of those making minimum wage has also been greatly exaggerated. An estimated 63,600 workers earned minimum wage or less last year and 93% of them do not have children, according to the Department of Labor and Industry. In fact, the number of people making minimum wage has decreased over the years. Between 2012 and 2022, the number of workers at or below minimum wage fell by 43,000, or 40.4%.
“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. “To the detriment of hard-working Pennsylvanians, 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.”
In reality, 35% of workers making minimum wage are from households that have an annual family income of $75,000 or more per year and over 22% had annual family incomes of $100,000 or more per year.
Another measure in the bill would increase the minimum wage for tipped workers, such as servers and bartenders, to $9 an hour. Servers currently take home on average of $27 per hour.
“Should this bill become law, we can guarantee servers will make much less than $27 an hour. Customers will be less inclined to tip well, if at all, knowing servers make $9 an hour,” Keefer and D’Orsie said. “In the end, this bill would not only harm all Pennsylvanians, but especially those who it claims to help.”
Representative Dawn Keefer
92nd Legislative District
Representative Joe D’Orsie
47th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Greg Gross
717.260.6374
ggross@pahousegop.com