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FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE HAS LITTLE EFFECT HERE
HARRISBURG, June
19, 2007
-- State Senate Democratic Leader Robert J.
Mellow today reminded workers and employers
that the new federal minimum wage law will
not affect the vast majority of workers in
Pennsylvania because they are already
protected by a more realistic state law.
“Pennsylvania has been ahead of the federal
government in lifting working families out
of poverty,” Mellow said. “It is important
that all workers and employers understand
how our laws relate to the new federal law.”
The federal minimum wage
increase, the first in 10 years, was
achieved by attaching the measure to the
recently passed Iraq war- funding bill. The
bill boosts the federal minimum wage from
$5.15 to $5.85 an hour on July 24.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage will rise to
$7.15 per hour on July 1.
Pennsylvania employers must pay the
Pennsylvania rate, not the federal rate,
unless the federal rate is higher.
Pennsylvania law, however, allows employers
to pay a “training wage” to workers under 20
years of age for up to 60 days. For those
workers, the federal minimum wage will be in
effect during the training period. In 2009,
if Pennsylvania law remains the same, the
federal law will add 10 cents an hour to the
minimum wage here.
While Pennsylvania’s July 1
increase will bring the minimum wage to
$7.15 an hour, certain small businesses are
allowed to raise the minimum wage at a
slower rate. The minimum wage for
businesses with the equivalent of 10 or
fewer full-time employees rises to $6.65 on
July 1, and to $7.15 on July 1, 2008.
The following is a schedule for
federal and state minimum wage levels:
July 1 - $7.15 – Pa. businesses
with more than 10 full-time employees
July 1 - $6.65 – Pa. businesses
with 10 or fewer full-time employees
July 24 - $5.85 – federal
minimum wage and PA “training wage”
July 1, 2008 - $7.15 – All
Pennsylvania employees
July 24, 2008 - $6.55 – federal
minimum wage and PA “training wage”
July 24, 2009 - $7.25 – federal
minimum wage and all PA wages
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