Who Benefits? The Demographic Impact of a Higher Minimum Wage in Pennsylvania

Claire Kovach |

From the Keystone Research Center

The minimum wage is an essential labor standard. The United States first established a federal minimum wage to ensure a fair wage for the lowest paid workers in this country. The declining value of the minimum wage contributes to growing income inequality and widens pay disparities by gender and race. As part of our ongoing effort to illustrate the impact of a higher minimum wage, we use data and estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Economic Policy Institute to model who would benefit from a minimum wage increase.

In this report, we outline the demographic characteristics of Pennsylvania workers who would benefit from a minimum wage of $15 per hour in the next year.