How far would a $15 minimum wage go in Pa.?

Earlier this month, New York state announced a long-anticipated plan to phase in a minimum wage for fast-food workers, whose 2012 protests sparked a national movement. And the huge University of California system will raise the minimum wage for its workers to $15 by 2017.

The trio were appointed in May at the behest of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo after he didn’t persuade the Republican majority in the State Senate to approve another across-the-board increase in the state minimum wage, which is scheduled to climb to $9 at year’s end. Numerous findings are fairly obvious-in New York City, where things are 22.3 percent more expensive than the national average, the hike wouldn’t mean quite as much as it would in Macon, Georgia, where prices are 12.2 percent below average.

Some New York State fast-food employees may receive increased wages sooner than they think. Namely, their high costs of living are driven overwhelmingly by affordable housing shortages.

The conservative warning that minimum wages are guaranteed to destroy consumer purchasing power by forcing businesses to raise prices doesn’t hold up under academic scrutiny, according to a new study from Purdue’sSchool of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

The problem with using the minimum wage to address an affordable housing shortage is that it does not, in fact, address an affordable housing shortage.

And it underscores an important part of national minimum wage policy that doesn’t often get discussed.

The wage board also identified at least 137 chains, each with 30 or more locations across the country, that would be impacted by its recommendation if it is implemented by the state’s acting labor commissioner. In New York City, life is expensive; in Lafayette, Ind., less so. Plenty of other major cities in the U.S. are talking about it. Both and $15 minimums have been proposed by members of Congress, too. RPPs are used to figure the purchasing power of an area. Even if wages in those occupations keep pace with inflation, they won’t come close to approaching $15 an hour by 2021.

In Pennsylvania, by metropolitan area, a national $15 minimum wage, would largely yield between $15 and $17 worth of actual buying power, depending upon where you live.

Confer’s company likes to keep its starting wage above the minimum to help it attract quality workers.