Philly Mayor Parker joins minimum wage protest, pushes for permission from state for city-controlled wage laws

Have a question about Philly’s neighborhoods or the systems that shape them? PlanPhilly reporters want to hear from you! Ask us a question or send us a story idea you think we should cover.

Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker rallied outside City Hall on Tuesday alongside labor advocates and elected officials trying to change the minimum wage.

Parker wants state lawmakers to either raise the minimum wage or allow the city to control its own destiny as statewide law changes have stalled.

“If they can’t get it right at the state level, give us the power to take care of our own stuff in house,” Parker told the crowd.

In 2023, legislation to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour passed the Pennsylvania House of Representatives but did not make it out of the state Senate. Since then, no bills to raise the state minimum beyond $7.25 an hour have passed through committee.

State law blocks municipalities from implementing higher minimums – a limitation that, Parker argues, undercuts economic development in Philadelphia and other urban centers.

“Whether or not an increase to the statewide minimum wage happens, we are asking for enabling legislation that would allow Philadelphia to create its own minimum wage above what the Commonwealth sets,” Parker wrote in a joint letter with Philadelphia City Council President Kenyatta Johnson to Gov. Josh Shapiro.

In 2019, Philadelphia voters overwhelmingly supported a referendum that asked whether the state legislature should allow the city to set its own minimum wage laws. Nearly 82% voted yes.

“Our charge, as elected officials, is clear: authorize the city of Philadelphia to ensure all workers in the city are paid a living wage,” the letter continued. “Philadelphia is faced with both increasing housing costs and high poverty levels, issues that an increased minimum wage could alleviate. An increased minimum wage is also a tool that could motivate current residents to stay in Philadelphia — gauzing the bleed of our tax base — and encourage prospective residents to choose Philadelphia.”

Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour was also proposed by the Philadelphia Tax Reform Commission as one of its many recommendations released this year.

A living wage is higher

The city of Philadelphia has used its power as an employer to start workers at $16.35 an hour and requires city contractors to do the same. At the city-owned airport, there’s a required prevailing wage of at least $17.20 an hour.

But Philadelphia can’t usurp state law for private sector employers that don’t do business with the city.

That means local unions are negotiating against $7.25 as opposed to $15 an hour as the bare minimum, and it makes a difference, said Daisy Cruz, Mid-Atlantic District leader for the Service Employees International Union, Local 32BJ in Philadelphia.

“It’s a lot of ground to make up at the bargaining table,” Cruz said, estimating that a living wage in Philadelphia is now closer to $24 an hour.

For Philadelphia security guards like Stephanie Gibson, she started making $15.15 an hour about a year ago and now earns $16.25 an hour. That’s about $34,000 a year before taxes.

That’s still not enough to afford a $1,200 two-bedroom apartment in Philadelphia, even when she really needs three bedrooms as the mother of six children, three of whom are still young.

She would need to earn at least three times the rent, $3,600 a month, to afford that apartment. That works out to $43,200 a year.

The 42-year-old has already been evicted from her old apartment and now lives with her mother to save money.

“I go shopping every two weeks and spend over $450 on groceries alone, which is not including the bare essentials,” she said.

To make her money stretch, she puts household needs on credit cards and is in debt.

She dreams of going to college in the fall to become an Xray technician but instead plans to get a second job working the night shift to earn more money.

“I do not qualify for programs like [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] because I make too much. I shouldn’t have to rely on programs if I work a full-time job,” she said.

She’s seen restaurant job advertisements that pay minimum wage in the city, which she says is not nearly enough.

“Absolutely not,” she said.

Pennsylvania is an outlier

Advocates also support a statewide minimum wage increase citing how the state is behind West Virginia, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

There’s broad support from businesses in the city for a $15 an hour minimum wage including the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Philadelphia, the African American Chamber of Commerce, the Asian American Chamber of Commerce, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Independence Business Alliance, the LGBTQ+ Chamber of Commerce.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has advocated to raise the state minimum wage in his budget addresses as well.

There were an estimated 47,200 Pennsylvania workers earning the minimum wage or less in 2024 — less than 1% of workers statewide, according to the Minimum Wage Advisory Board. That includes tipped workers who often earn the subminimum of $2.83 an hour — but are required to be paid by their employer up to $7.25 an hour if tips don’t cover the difference. Another 255,000 workers statewide earned just above minimum wage, between $7.26 to $12 an hour in 2024.

While few job postings advertise minimum wage, the most common industries are food services and beverage establishments, construction and other services. The most common demographic for a minimum wage worker in Pennsylvania is an unmarried white woman between the ages of 16 to 24 years old with a high school diploma or less.

A political struggle

Democratic State Sen. Christine Tartaglione, who represents lower Northeast Philadelphia, has introduced higher minimum wage legislation for decades. In 2024, she introduced a $20 an hour minimum wage bill. This year, her newest legislation dropped back down to a graduated $15 an hour minimum wage. But neither bill passed the Senate Republican-controlled committee of Labor and Industry.

Pennsylvania Republicans have pushed back hard on higher minimum wage bills over the years. During the House debate two years ago, some representatives introduced amendments to carve out nonprofit employees or allow workers to opt out by signing an agreement with their employer to accept lower wages.

Republican State Rep. Kathy Rapp spoke against raising state minimum wages, saying it would hurt small businesses in counties she represents in Northwestern Pennsylvania like Forest County — which is among the poorest in the state.

The median household income in Forest County was $50,000 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Philadelphia County, the median household income is roughly $60,000 and in Pennsylvania, it’s about $76,000.

“Those small businesses, Mr. Speaker, cannot afford an increase in the minimum wage. Some of them already pay higher than the minimum wage. But if you want to make a county like Forest County even poorer, then this is the bill that can do it,” Rapp said on the house floor during debate in June 2023.

This year, the House minimum wage legislation was introduced by State Rep. Roni Green, who represents neighborhoods in both North and West Philadelphia. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Labor and Industry, which is controlled by Democrats.

Rep. Green said she’s confident that the minimum wage bill will be successful this year but that it’s still an uphill battle.

“There are politicians here in Pennsylvania that do not want this to happen, they are blocking every step of this process,” Green said.

It’s estimated the state would collect $100 million in revenue from the increase from income taxes.

“People are struggling,” she said. “Every state that borders Pennsylvania has found a way to do it.”

Advocates expect to rally again for the legislation May 5 in Harrisburg.