Wages have kept up with inflation, and a tight labor market continues to give workers more leverage than they have had in decades. But the division of legislative power at the state and federal levels means that progress on other improvements to working conditions often stagnates, leaving “no chance of passage of major labor law reforms that work for workers,” according to an annual report by the Keystone Research Center. The State of Working Pennsylvania ReportT.
The report’s authors note that there has been no retreat — at least not yet — “from the federal investments in climate, infrastructure, and innovation in 2021–22 that are currently sustaining a strong economy.” But there has also been no enhance in the minimum wage at either the state or federal level, despite some recent efforts.
Pennsylvania struck The record low unemployment rate in July was 3.5%and for the first six months of the year, there were about 0.7 unemployed people for every vacant position, meaning there are still more vacancies than workers. Inflation fell to 3.2%, and between March 2022 and March 2023, Pennsylvanians saw their average weekly wage enhance by 7.6%, a 1.7% enhance after taking inflation into account, the report notes.
Union membership also rose in Pennsylvania and nationwide, but only slightly, largely because of fierce resistance from companies. The report found that union membership in the U.S. rose by 200,000 members in 2022, and by 23,000 in Pennsylvania.
The most significant action policymakers could take to reverse income inequality would be to strengthen union rights, the report’s authors write. But given the divisions in legislatures, executive action would likely be the only way to make it easier to organize unions.
“The only way to ensure shared prosperity for a generation or two is to strengthen unions, implement higher and broader pay standards, including at the sectoral level, and create more effective and universal skills development and career support,” the report’s authors write, “not just for highly educated professionals and managers, but for the rest of the workforce.”
This The authors also tout a “long-awaited increase in the state’s minimum wage,” which remains at $7.25 an hour. That’s the equivalent of the federal minimum wage, but it’s the lowest of all states bordering Pennsylvania. The Democratic majority in the state House, plus two Republicans, passed legislation in June to gradually raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. But the legislation has stalled in the Republican-controlled state Senate. And legislation to gradually raise Allegheny County’s minimum wage to $20 an hour is blocked in court after a back-and-forth between the county board and the outgoing county executive.
The 2023 Keystone Research Center report does not address some of the other issues that affect workers in Pennsylvania and the U.S. There has been a trend toward weakening child labor laws in some states, as well as the impact of local strikes, such as at Wabtec in Erie — where workers just ratified a novel contract — or at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where a union worker strike is coming up on the year [Disclosure: I previously worked at the Post-Gazette, where I was a member of the newsroom union].
We have seen the impact of organized labor power on a nationwide scale. —UPS reached an agreement with the Teamsters in July to avoid an Aug. 1 strike, and actors and writers in Hollywood are striking demanding fairer treatment from movie studios who make millions while also profiting from royalties.
The report also does not address how ending the pause on student loan payments would affect the purchasing power of younger Pennsylvanians, which could potentially limit the benefits of wage growth.
All of these realities are the realities that workers in Pennsylvania and across the country are grappling with this Labor Day. But make no mistake: Despite the modest membership gains that the numbers show, unions and those who want to organize have a significant voice that decision-makers ignore at their peril, especially in Pennsylvania.
It’s no surprise that President Joe Biden will deliver a speech at Philadelphia’s Labor Day Parade on Monday — unions are a key demographic in the swing state that will play a huge role in 2024 and beyond.
“When workers no longer have to worry about whether they’ll have enough to eat or know that if they lose their current job, they can get a good union job in a clean economy, they will rally around the need to save the only planet we have,” the Keystone Research Center report concluded. “Pennsylvania workers have waited too long. They deserve policymakers and policies that put them first.”
