Should Pa. workers get automatic raises if their state lawmakers do?

Pennsylvania lawmakers have set their salaries to grow on autopilot over the years through a law that ensures their pay will keep pace with the rising cost of living.

Their lowest-paid constituents, on the other hand, have no such guarantees, and the commonwealth’s minimum wage has remained stuck at $7.25 an hour since the federal government last changed it in 2009.

A state lawmaker says that’s unfair, and she’s releasing a proposal that would give Keystone State residents the same automatic raises their legislators receive.

“It is shameful that state lawmakers have seen a more than 45% increase in salary over the last 17 years while the minimum wage has remained unchanged,” Rep. Emily Kinkead, a Pittsburgh Democrat, wrote in a March 16 memo describing her proposed legislation. “If we are getting a raise from taxpayers, then taxpayers should get a raise, as well.”

How much have salaries gone up for Pa. lawmakers?

Legislators in 1995 passed a bill giving themselves, judges and executive officials automatic annual pay bumps based on cost-of-living data. At the time the federal government set the current minimum wage level, rank-and-file lawmakers were earning about $78,300, according to Kinkead’s bill memo.

The base pay for Keystone State workers has remained frozen since then, while legislative salaries have surged to $113,590. Leaders in the Senate and House of Representatives earn even more, with the highest salary exceeding $177,323.

Do other Pa. officials want to raise the minimum wage?

Many states — including all that border the commonwealth — have established their own minimum wages at rates higher than the federal threshold.

Four of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states promise workers pay rates of $15 an hour or more, and low-wage workers in Ohio and West Virginia also get paid more than those in the commonwealth, Gov. Josh Shapiro noted in his budget address.

A recent analysis from finance app MoneyLion found that families in 25 states, including Pennsylvania, must earn at least $30 per hour to make ends meet.

The debate has raged for years in Pennsylvania over whether to lift the state’s base wage. Shapiro renewed that idea in his budget proposal for 2026, calling on the General Assembly to send a minimum wage increase to his desk.