Pennsylvania residents have heard the same argument many times about why the Keystone State’s minimum wage should not be increased.

Raising the $7.25 minimum wage could cost as many as 5,000 jobs, even if the increase were only to $12 an hour, opponents of the increase say.

Thus, proposals for an increase in this state since 2009 — the year of the last federally mandated increase — have died. Meanwhile, along has come 2025 and, across the United States,

21 states have approved increases.

Pennsylvania is not one of them, of course, sticking by the old jobs fear-mongering stance that avoids a certain reality that is seldom, if ever, acknowledged or discussed seriously.

Considering what other states are doing, however, it is time for the reality in question to be at least pondered for the future, if not for now.

This editorial is not intended to take a definite stance regarding an increase or how large of an increase should be contemplated. That is the task of the lawmakers who are sent to Harrisburg to make such decisions.

Rather, this editorial is intended only to call attention to what needs to be considered and to urge that that consideration not be ignored or pushed into the background, without giving state residents the opportunity to express their views.

In fact, every Pennsylvania lawmaker — every senator and state House member — should get in touch with his or her constituents in whatever forum is reasonable to listen to the public’s views about the issue.

Now the issue that needs to be discussed:

How many young and not-so-young people are leaving this commonwealth because of the stubborn, draconian attitude geared at maintaining the state’s minimum wage at its current $7.25 rate? The answer probably is, more than lawmakers and the business community are willing to admit.

It is not very perceptive to think that minimum-wage workers here won’t move elsewhere to earn a living wage, just because of their loyalty to living in the state where they were born and grew up.

Beyond that initial question, a bigger question is why state lawmakers are so gun-shy about this wage matter when it affects so many people?

Pennsylvania lawmakers should not need the federal government to mandate minimum-wage rates when this state’s General Assembly has the power to sit down and fashion a reasonable rate consistent with economic realities, even if increases have to be crafted for mandatory steps over several years to give time for businesses to adjust.

The point is that the issue deserves much more public discussion than the General Assembly has heretofore been willing to schedule.

And, when that needed discussion is completed, lawmakers should provide facts and figures in a good-faith effort to justify their decision.

The Keystone Research Center says one in four workers would benefit from a $15 minimum wage, which it said would boost annual earnings by an average of $4,300.

According to the center, most of those workers include women between the ages of 20 and 39 and people of color, while 18% are over the age of 55.

The best advice is to stop ignoring the exodus-of-minimum-wage-workers

Issue and acknowledge that those individuals, if still living here, help pay the state’s bills also.

Keeping all Pennsylvania residents is important, whether or not they work for minimum wage.

Giving this issue the study it deserves would acknowledge that reality for all to see.