This Labor Day is a moment to reflect on whether our commonwealth’s economy lifts working families or leaves them behind.

The most recent iteration of Keystone Research Center’s State of Working Pennsylvania shows a complex economy with serious challenges.

Just a year ago, workers enjoyed the strongest job market since 1979. Today, that leverage is eroding: unemployment is rising, hiring has slowed and wage growth has stalled.

Tariffs, federal layoffs, immigration crackdowns, canceled research grants, revoked tax credits and a seemingly unending list of new developments feeding an untenable uncertainty make it impossible to plan for the future. These policies are only now taking effect, so their full impact is still to come.

While some regions and groups have modest gains, many working families are still struggling to get by and afford daily essentials. The post-pandemic recovery has been uneven, leaving too many behind.

Federal retreats from clean energy investments have stalled a historic manufacturing and construction boom over the last three years and threaten 109 clean energy projects across Pennsylvania. Thousands of prosperity-building, family-sustaining jobs hang in the balance, and we risk falling behind the rest of the developed world in green energy and manufacturing.

Recent newspaper headlines on employment numbers can appear positive; however, they mask the fact that many Pennsylvanians work in precarious positions without benefits, protections, predictable schedules, or advancement opportunities. These jobs fail to provide the economic security families need.

Looming on the horizon are policy changes that further burden vulnerable Pennsylvanians. A callous federal government has intentionally put in place paperwork requirements for SNAP benefits that will assuredly frustrate many food-insecure families, digging them deeper into poverty. Not only a kitchen table issue, but an empty stomach issue.

Next year, Medicaid work requirements are set to begin and will detour healthcare access for thousands. Basic needs will go unattended, more kids will miss school, and local businesses will have to scramble to fulfill orders, help customers, and struggle to stay open.

All the while, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage remains frozen at $7.25 per hour, the same as it was over 15 years ago, trapping workers in poverty despite being fully employed, forcing families to make impossible choices such as deciding whether to pay for heat, fix the car, or pay for an asthma inhaler.

Our report offers evidence-based solutions that transcend partisan divides. By strengthening workers’ rights to organize, passing legislation to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage, and resuming funding and tax credits for sustainable energy and industry, we can go a long way to helping create an economy that works for everyone

The evidence is clear: when workers have more power, better wages, and stronger protections, Pennsylvania thrives. This Labor Day, let’s stop talking about what could make things better and commit to policies that work for working families.

(Bernie Gallagher is executive director of the Keystone Research Center.)