‘Shame on us’ Labor & Industry secretary says of Pa.’s stalled minimum wage

By Cassie Miller

Embarrassing.

That’s the one word that Pennsylvania Labor & Industry Secretary Gerard Oleksiak and his top deputy used Wednesday to describe Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has been mired at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade.

The two Wolf administration officials made the case for a wage hike during the agency’s annual budget hearing before the House Appropriations Committee. They told the Republican-controlled panel that the Legislature’s lack of movement on the issue has been “frustrating.”

The Labor & Industry Department is currently spending slightly more than $80 million, according to data from the Wolf administration.