July 08–Gov. Pat Quinn has actively pushed for a minimum wage of $10 an hour, and voters will get to voice their opinions on the state minimum wage in November.
But in Chicago, the city’s 16-member Minimum Wage Working Group has recommended a $13-and-hour minimum wage.
Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel created the panel to examine the Chicago minimum wage after a group of aldermen proposed raising the minimum wage in the city to $15/hour.
Co-chaired by Ald. Will Burns (4th Ward) and John Bouman, president of the Sargent Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the panel voted 13-3 in favor of recommending the city raises the minimum wage incrementally until it reaches $13/hour in 2018.
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Mitch Dudek reports on the Minimum Wage Working Group’s findings:
The Minimum Wage Working Group contends that the proposed increase — to be phased in over four years — would increase earnings for about 410,000 Chicagoans; inject nearly $800 million into Chicago’s economy; and better align earnings with the cost of living adjusted for inflation.
“Mayor Emanuel met with the Working Group at their final meeting this afternoon and was impressed by the thoroughness of their work,” Kelley Quinn, a mayoral spokeswoman, said in a statement Monday night. “He fully supports the group’s balanced proposal.”
The increase to $13 would reflect the high cost of living in Chicago compared with the rest of Illinois, according to the panel’s report. It would increase the earnings for 31 percent of Chicago workers.
The four-year time frame would allow business owners time to adjust, the panel reported. It also concluded that the wage increase could raise the cost of food, health care, retail and hospitality by up to 2 percent.
The minimum wage currently is $7.25 an hour at the federal level and $8.25 in Illinois. The panel suggested that a minimum wage increase ordinance shouldn’t be passed in Chicago before the Illinois Legislature acts on a statewide minimum wage increase.
Chicago Tribune reporters Hal Dardick and Alejandra Cancino looked at the three votes against the recommendation, along with how this will affect tipped employees such as waiters and waitresses:
Voting against the $13-an-hour proposal were representatives of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the Chicago Retail Merchants Association and the Illinois Restaurant Association, Burns said. Aldermen, labor officials and leaders of community groups backed the concept.
The idea was “to strike a balance between helping workers and making sure Chicago stays competitive,” Burns said.
But Rob Karr, president of the Retail Merchants Association, said his group opposes any minimum wage increase. “This is going to make it difficult for Chicago retailers to remain competitive and hire,” Karr said.
The task force recommended the current minimum wage of $8.25 be increased in each of the next three years by $1.25, with a $1 increase in 2018. After that, annual increases would be pegged to the rate of inflation.
Tipped employees, like waiters, would see their wages increased by $1 to $5.95 over the next two years. Annual increases after that would be at the rate of inflation. But their total pay, including wages and tips, would have to at least equal the amount paid to non-tipped employees in the city.
Co-chair Bouman wrote an op-ed in Crain’s Chicago Business explaining his support for increasing the Chicago minimum wage, along with dispelling notions that it will lead to job loss in the state.
Writes Bouman:
It is time for Illinois to raise its minimum wage. And with a cost of living much higher than all other regions in the state, Chicago should raise its minimum wage above whatever the state sets.
A statewide increase to $10.65 an hour is the subject of a referendum on the November ballot. Currently, Illinois’ minimum wage is $8.25 an hour — that is about $17,000 per year for a full-time worker, and it is well below the annual cost of housing, health care, utilities, groceries, transportation, clothing, child care and other necessities. Nationally, if the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since it was first enacted, it would now be at $10.75.
Minimum wage earners are not all students; 84 percent are 20 or older. There are about 400,000 minimum wage workers in Illinois who earn $17,000 by working full time, many supporting families. Most of those working full time do not earn enough to be out of poverty. Almost two out of three who earn less than $10 per hour work full time. And they all put their paychecks immediately back into the economy, buying goods and services. Increasing the minimum wage drives economic growth — and jobs.
Brendan Bond is a staff writer at Reboot Illinois. He is a graduate of Loyola University, where he majored in journalism. Brendan takes a look each day at the Land of Lincoln Lowdown and it’s often pretty low. He examines the property tax rates that drive Illinoisans insane. You can find Reboot on Facebook and on Twitter @rebootillinois.
Reboot Illinois is a nonpartisan website and social media effort dedicated to involving Illinoisans in the key issues facing our state, including state debt, corruption and waste and improving business and schools.
