Category: Blog post

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 1, 2024. By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Policy Center I took my first regular paid job as a hotel bellhop in 1966 when I was eleven. It was hard work—in many ways harder than anything I do today. People came to stay for a week or three and that meant a summer of schlepping heavy bags, sometimes up two flights of stairs. The tips were sometimes good and sometimes not. The minimum wage in 1968 was $1.60. But when I got my first paycheck, I was astounded to see that my pay rate was only eighty cents per hour. This made no sense to me, so I went to speak to my boss. I said, “Mom, why am I only getting paid half of the minimum wage?” She explained the tipped minimum wage to me that day and ever since I’ve… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on April 1, 2024.  By Marc Stier, Executive Director, Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center As I documented in a previous blog post, there is no question that the minimum wage is worth less than what it was at an earlier time in our history, even though we are a far more prosperous country today than in the past. And yet large numbers of people—more than 21% of all workers in Pennsylvania—earn less than $15 per hour or just above it. And that’s why we need a minimum wage. It is one of the critical policies that, like the right to form unions, the social safety net, and a tax system that asks the rich to pay at a higher rate than the poor, ensures we have an economy that works for all of us, not just the wealthy owners of huge corporations. We show… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on March 29, 2024. VIEW IN A PDF READER, PRINT, OR DOWNLOAD. Click to access Minimum-Wage-and-Economic-Justice.pdf Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on March 22, 2024. In Pennsylvania, OSHA (the Occupational Safety and Health Administration) regulations apply to most private sector employers and employees. However, public sector employees, including those working for “Section (3)(5) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 specifically excludes Federal OSHA’s authority over employees of State and local government. The Act provides for States to assume responsibility for occupational safety and health programs under the state’s own plan, which must be approved by the U.S. Department of Labor.” These protections implement lifesaving health and safety standards in the workplace as well as avenues to report violations and receive assistance. Amongst other protections, OSHA standards require private employers to: provide fall protection, ensure the safety of workers who are in confined spaces, provide protection against infectious diseases, and prevent exposure to harmful substances like asbestos or lead. Without regulation, all public… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on January 4, 2024. Income and wealth are highly concentrated at the top in Pennsylvania, a situation that has worsened greatly in recent decades. Pennsylvania voters rightly believe that corporations and wealthy individuals aren’t paying their fair share to fund the government services and infrastructure we all depend on. In November and December of 2022, Data for Progress conducted a survey of registered voters nationally to gauge voter support towards state action to ensure that profitable corporations and the wealthy are paying their fair share of taxes. The national survey was then used to estimate opinion at the state level for Pennsylvania, using a machine learning model trained on nationally representative survey responses linked to a commercial voter file. There is no question that Pennsylvania’s voters are supportive of statewide policies that require those at the top to pay their fair share. Voters are looking… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 22, 2023. December 22, 2023 A year ago, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that Pennsylvania violates its constitutional obligation to create a “thorough and efficient” system of school funding. In response, legislative leaders and Governor Shapiro have charged the Basic Education Funding Commission with providing a blueprint for General Assembly action that would meet our constitutional obligation. In developing that blueprint, the General Assembly can learn from what other states have done. Seen from a national perspective, Judge Jubelirer’s decision is not an outlier. In response to similar court decisions, about half of states have added substantial state funding of K-12 education in the last thirty years. In almost every case, the judicial decisions, like that of Judge Jubelirer, focused on the inequity in school funding created by over-reliance on locally raised revenues to pay for schools. Because Pennsylvania is a latecomer… Continue reading

Originally published at Pennsylvania Policy Center on December 22, 2023. December 22, 2023 A year ago, Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer ruled that Pennsylvania violates its constitutional obligation to create a “thorough and efficient” system of school funding. In response, legislative leaders and Governor Shapiro have charged the Basic Education Funding Commission with providing a blueprint for General Assembly action that would meet our constitutional obligation. As the Basic Education Funding Commission moves from fact-finding to the decision-making phase of its work, this is a good time to recognize that we all have a stake in its deliberations. The best way to do that is to review the reasons that Pennsylvania’s Constitution has an education provision at all. Why, in other words, did those who wrote our Constitution believe that K-12 education is so important? The ultimate source of the provisions of the Pennsylvania Constitution that underlies Judge Jubelirer’s decision are… Continue reading