From this link:
URLs rewritten, remove parenthesis (http:)//www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsbu ... 25037.html"The number of workers in Pennsylvania who earned the minimum wage of $7.15 per hour or less, rose 23 percent in 2008 from the previous year — a move that experts say may not be tied to the recession.
There were 85,000 workers last year who earned the state minimum wage or less, an increase from 69,000 in 2007, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The report found that 2.5 percent of Pennsylvania's 3.45 million hourly workers were paid at or below the minimum wage, an increase from 2 percent of the state's 3.43 million hourly workers in 2007.
The increase in the number of the state's workers in low-paying jobs might not be tied to the recession, given the fact that the downturn did not hit the region until really late in the year, said James Futrell, vice president of market research and analysis for the Pittsburgh Regional Alliance, a nonprofit that markets the region and seeks to attract business and jobs.
As the state's minimum wage rose from $5.15 an hour in 2006 to $7.15 an hour in 2007, the number of workers at or below minimum wage dropped from 96,000 in 2006 to 69,000 in 2007, so the increase in 2008 might be a bounce back from that decline, Futrell said."
page loads.