skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Analysis: $10.10/Hour Min Wage Would Add 6,000 PA Jobs

play audio
Play

Thursday, April 23, 2015   

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Not only would raising the state's low-end pay not cost jobs, a new analysis finds a $10.10 Pennsylvania minimum wage actually would add thousands of jobs.

Mark Price, an economist at the Keystone Research Center who did much of the research, says for years people assumed raising the wage floor would mean more unemployment.

But he stresses repeated studies have found that's not the case. In fact, he says a $10.10 minimum would boost spending enough to create 6,000 jobs in the state.

"My spending is someone else's income,” he points out. “You are raising wages for a group of workers who tend to spend every dime, and they spend it in the local economy. That in turn generates income for somebody else."

Price says the new state minimum would benefit 1.2 million Pennsylvanians and put $1.8 billion more spending into the economy.

Critics of the minimum wage say it pushes some workers out of the job market.

Price says if the level were set too high, that might be the case. But he says what economists have found is that rather than causing massive layoffs, moderate increases in the minimum wage – enough to keep up with inflation – more often motivate employers to find ways to make the employees they have more productive. And that is good for the economy as a whole.

"We don't dig trenches anymore with hundreds of thousands of people with shovels,” Price points out. “We dig them with large capital equipment and a highly skilled worker. You get that kind of innovation as you allow the wage floor to rise over time."

Price adds one of the first studies that found no job losses looked at fast food restaurants around the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border after New Jersey raised its minimum wage. He says other studies have confirmed that finding since.

He says this new analysis found a larger proportion of employees in rural parts of the state would get a raise. In fact, Price says a $10.10 per hour minimum would boost the wages of more than a quarter of rural workers.

"There's a disproportionate share of workers in rural communities that would benefit from an increase,” he maintains. “Twenty-seven percent of the workers in rural communities would get an increase in their earnings."







get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

Social Issues

play sound

A 2023 study from the University of Nebraska Medical Center concluded the number of Nebraskans with a mental health or substance abuse disorder has pr…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021