(The Center Square) – Pennsylvania’s minimum hourly wage has been unchanged for 16 years, even as its neighboring states have climbed into the double-digits.
Unlike years past, however, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s budget proposal on Tuesday places a strong emphasis on finally bringing the rate from $7.25 to $15, highlighting it as key to economic growth, entitlement reform and population security.
“Listen, if you aren’t going to do this because it’s the right thing to do or because it would let more families put food on the table for their kids,” Shapiro said, “then do it because it’s going to save us $300 million and shrink our entitlement budget by growing our workforce and putting more money back in our workers’ pockets.”
The “you” in the governor’s comments refers to Republican legislators, who have been remiss in raising the rate too high for fear of collapsing the job market for low-income workers.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, R-Indiana, one of the Legislature’s key budget negotiators, said even at $15, minimum wage workers will be unable to “effectuate the American dream.”
“We are willing to have a conversation about minimum wage and to see if we can come to a compromise but based on the way the governor delivered that message, I think he’s more interested in the political talking point than actually getting something done on the issue,” he said.
The policy ties into a broader message coming from Shapiro and his Democratic allies in the Legislature: pro-worker and pro-family policies will grow state revenues enough to cover rising expenses for schools, safety net programs and tax credits.
The latter includes a state-based earned income tax credit that will pay $1,000 to roughly 900,000 workers. Funding the tax credits, as well as costs for Medicaid and food stamps are part of the $4.5 billion budget gap Republicans worry revenues won’t be able to cover.
Earlier this month, the federal Department of Health and Human Services, which gives money to states to cover social programs, said enrollment has declined 8% over the last two months.
The new rules ask that recipients work, volunteer, or participate in work programs or education for a total of at least 80 hours per month, or about 20 hours per week.
It is unclear whether the drop-off in enrollees is the result of finding gainful employment. A 2023 study from the Congressional Budget Office examining work requirements for Medicaid found that the changes “would lead to lower federal costs, an increase in the number of uninsured people, no change in employment or hours worked by Medicaid recipients, and a rise in state costs.”
For Medicaid, the new requirements will go into effect Jan. 1, 2027.
For SNAP, the new requirements phased into effect in September and November. They increased the age of those who need to report to 64. They reduced the age of qualifying dependents to 14. Additionally, the new federal legislation ended SNAP provisions for veterans, homeless people and current or former foster children aged 18 to 24.
Advocates say that many people who fail to meet the new requirements are overloaded with unpaid work, like caregiving for family members including young children, those with disabilities, and older adults. Others, they say, meet the requirements but will likely slip through the cracks meeting reporting demands.
In a report, the Indepdent Fiscal Office said that “how much of the contraction is attributable to new work requirements cannot be quantified with precision.” Though timing suggests the changes were at least a factor, and it remains to be seen whether the adjustment is permanent.
More than 2 million residents received payments from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in November, shortly after the congressional shutdown was resolved. Often called SNAP or food stamps, low-income residents spend more than $350 million monthly across 38,000 stores, some of which depend mostly on these sales to survive.
Between 2019 and 2025, SNAP benefits grew 76% while enrollment expanded by two-thirds. This includes declines from pandemic-era highs bolstered by record infusions from the federal government.
The changes have long been sought in the state Legislature, though ideological divides persisted. Republicans have long wanted waivers from the mandate, which have been used on and off for the last 20 years, to expire amid fears about prolonged government dependency and fraud. Democrats see the option as economically justified absent a stronger safety net.
Welfare expansion has outpaced population growth. Pennsylvania has only gained 700,000 residents since 2000. But the state budget is dominated by this spending that runs through the Department of Human Services.
Medicaid spending has ballooned over the last 25 years. The state spent $10.7 billion on 1.3 million residents in 2000, but in 2025, the commonwealth appropriated $47 billion to provide benefits to 3.3 million residents.
