What's Happened to Wages?

This is a key question for hunger fighters. When wages increase, then families are more food secure and make fewer visits to local food pantries for help.

As reported by the Keystone Research Center in The State of Working Pennsylvania 2001, the inflation adjusted median wage earned by Pennsylvania employees in 2000 was $12.27, down nine cents from 1999. Among men with only a high school education, the drop was more significant - from $12.92 an hour in 1999 to $12.50 in 2000.

However, wages of low-wage workers (those earning more than 10 percent of all employees and less than 90 percent) climbed a bit - from $6.25 an hour in 1999 to $6.31 an hour in 2000. They now earn 47 cents per hour more than they did in 1995, but 69 cents less than in 1979.

Looking ahead to the prospect of an economic downturn, authors Stephen A. Hertzenberg and David H. Bradley are pessimistic. "In the 1950s to 1970s, when unemployment increased, wages rarely fell because of union influence and a relatively high minimum wage. But today, in Pennsylvania, unions represent only one in six workers and the minimum wage has fallen to well below most low-wage earnings. The only factor holding up most wages, therefore, has been low unemployment. Loosen the labor market and we expect wages to fall."

Included in the report is the Center's "blueprint for a better Pennsylvania". It includes an increase in the minimum wage, state investment in job training that is linked to regional industries rather than to individual employers, state laws that encourage the creation and growth of labor unions, and full utilization by Pennsylvania of federal Medicaid coverage for low-wage adults.

Back to Top