HARRISBURG — Stymied by Republicans in his effort to pass a law raising the minimum wage, Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is moving to boost pay in Pennsylvania through another means — by making hundreds of thousands of additional salaried employees eligible for overtime pay, administration officials said Wednesday.

The proposed regulation extending overtime to more salaried employees would need approval only from a five-member board that has a 3-2 majority of Democratic appointees.

The approval process could take more than a year, meaning that Wolf — who is seeking a second term in November’s election — must get re-elected to ensure it stays alive. Raising the overtime threshold would strengthen the middle class, boost the economy and help make wages fairer, Wolf said.

“It’s simple. If you work overtime, then you should get paid fairly for it,” Wolf said. “This important step will put more money into the pockets of hardworking people and will help expand the middle class in Pennsylvania.”

Labor unions applauded the move, but it drew quick opposition from business groups that also had cheered when federal courts blocked a similar move by former President Barack Obama.

A handful of other states with higher minimum wages require overtime pay for salaried workers above the federal baseline, although Wolf’s proposal would appear to put Pennsylvania on par with the states with the highest thresholds, including California, New York and Alaska.

Wolf’s administration said the regulation would phase in the increase over three years and eventually cover 460,000 more salaried workers, or about 8 percent of Pennsylvania’s estimated payrolls of nearly 6 million. It would require that salaried workers earning up to almost $48,000 a year in 2022, or about $920 a week, get time-and-a-half pay for any time they work over 40 hours in a week. In 2020, the threshold would rise to $31,720 annually, or $610 per week, and in 2021 to nearly $40,000, or $766 per week.

Pennsylvania’s current threshold is set at the federal baseline of $23,660, or $455 per week, which took effect in 2004. The state last raised its overtime threshold by regulation to $250 per week in 1977, the administration said. That is comparable to about $1,000 in today’s dollar value, using the federal government’s online inflation calculator.