New Report: Less than 1% of Pa. Workers Earn Minimum Wage

Harrisburg, Pa., May 18, 2026 — For the fourth consecutive year, Gov. Josh Shapiro has sought a $15-per-hour minimum wage in his 2026–27 budget proposal. New research from the Commonwealth Foundation finds that very few workers will benefit from this proposal while thousands will suffer.

As of 2025, only 42,900 of Pennsylvania’s 6.3 million workers earn the minimum wage.

Key Findings

• Less than one percent of Pennsylvania workers earn the minimum wage or less—an all-time low. 
• 80 percent of minimum-wage workers are part-time, have no children, and are not the sole earners of their households.
• The number of minimum-wage workers has fallen by about 42 percent in just five years since 2020.
• Analysis by Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) estimates that a minimum-wage hike to $15 an hour would cost an estimated 15,600 jobs, with over 60 percent of the price hikes falling on consumers.
• Markets are already lifting wages, without a mandate. The IFO estimates the effective market minimum wage is around $11 to $11.50 per hour — and climbing.

Josh Schubert, policy analyst for the Commonwealth Foundation, offered the following statement in response:

“Raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to help workers is like trying to put out fires with gasoline: no one benefits but everyone gets burned.

“A manufactured wage hike would harm the very people that minimum wage proponents claim it would help, leading to reduced worker benefits, reduced hours, and job automation. 

“A higher minimum wage would also be disastrous to Pennsylvania’s economy, resulting in higher costs, fewer jobs, stalled investment, and layoffs.

“Shapiro’s own officials have admitted that a minimum-wage hike is a non-existent need: Revenue Secretary Pat Browne conceded employers are already raising wages without a mandate and the Department of Human Services acknowledged that the market is already moving toward a $15-per-hour wage or more.

“If the governor wants to bolster economic conditions for our workers, he should trade mandates and newly proposed taxes for comprehensive regulatory reform to lower the cost of hiring in the commonwealth.”

Read the full report here.