HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. state lawmakers are pushing hikes of their minimum wages, even as Washington leaves the federal $5.15 per hour limit alone.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Ed Rendell is lobbying to lift his state's $5.15 hourly minimum wage to $7.15 an hour by next year, followed by annual cost-of-living adjustments, the Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot-News said Friday.
Rendell says a single parent who has one child and earns the federal minimum wage for 40 hours a week would have annual earnings of $10,700 -- $2,100 less than the federal poverty level.
Earlier this week, Maryland became the 18th state to set a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum when it raised the state's minimum to $6.15 an hour, Stateline.org said.
Also this week, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson called for raising his state's wage minimum to $7.50 an hour over three years.
Washington state, which in 2001 became the first state to mandate automatic increases in its minimum wage tied to inflation, has the highest minimum wage of any state, $7.63 an hour.
