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By Ed Mahon
York Daily Record (PA), Jan 15, 2015

Tom Wolf, who was elected governor in November, wants to raise the minimum wage in Pennsylvania. Here are five things to know about the issue.

1. Pennsylvania's minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

That's the same rate as the federal minimum wage. Nationwide, 29 states have a minimum wage above the federal level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

2. Wolf says raising the minimum wage would create jobs.

Wolf's "Fresh Start" policy plan, released in February 2014, says raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and indexing it to inflation would raise wages for 20 percent of Pennsylvanians and lead to the creation of 5,000 jobs by 2016. ... "As a business owner, Tom Wolf knows that investing in workers is the right thing to do," Wolf's plan says. "He believes that when you pay your workers well and provide good benefits, everyone wins."

The plan says economists have studied the impact of minimum wage increases over the last 25 years and concluded they are not tied to job losses.

The Keystone Research Center, which Wolf once served on the board of, has also argued in favor of a minimum wage increase. The group sent out a news release in late December, saying that 20 states were raising their minimum wage beginning Jan. 1. In nine states, the increase was happening because the minimum wage was indexed to inflation, the center said.

The center pointed to the more than 1,000 signers of the Business for a Fair Minimum Wage Statement to raise the federal minimum wage to at least $10.10. The center has estimated that an increase to $10.10 an hour would increase wages for about one million Pennsylvania workers, the majority of whom are 20 or older. Women are more likely to be affected than men, according to the center. ...

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