Pa.’s $2.83 an hour tipped worker is probably broke

The minimum wage for hourly workers in Pennsylvania is $7.25 — unless you work for tips. Why is the minimum wage for tipped workers so much lower?

Listen 11:38
Christina Munce waits tables at Broad Street Diner in Philadelphia, where she's worked for more than eight years. (Sasha Arutyunova for TIME)

Christina Munce waits tables at Broad Street Diner in Philadelphia, where she's worked for more than eight years. (Sasha Arutyunova for TIME)

Listen to The Why wherever you get your podcasts:
Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher | RadioPublic | TuneIn


Tipped workers in Pennsylvania make only $2.83 an hour on the books, and, while their employers are supposed to make up the difference to get them to the minimum wage of $7.25, that doesn’t always happen. Malcolm Burnley, a reporter with The Fuller Project, explains why service workers are paid this way in the first place — and why it’s so hard for many in this booming industry to make ends meet.

Click here to read Malcolm’s story with reporter Alana Semuels in Time Magazine.

WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.

Want a digest of WHYY’s programs, events & stories? Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Together we can reach 100% of WHYY’s fiscal year goal