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Last December, Blagojevich signed legislation boosting Illinois'
minimum wage to $7.50 an hour -- $2.35 higher than the federal
minimum wage of $5.15 an hour -- with incremental increases each
year up to $8.25 an hour in 2010. "A person who works 40 hours a
week should earn enough to care for their family and afford basic
necessities. I'm proud that in Illinois, we've kept our promise to
help working people and make their lives easier after years of
neglect at the federal level. As Illinois' minimum wage moves up
today to $7.50 an hour, it will be a little easier for thousands of
Illinois families to pay their bills, put food on the table or buy
clothes for their kids. Workers deserve a fair wage for their hard
work, and they deserve a wage that keeps up with the increasing cost
of living," Blagojevich said.
"For thousands of working families who live on the brink of
poverty, the increase in Illinois' minimum wage will help workers
afford basic necessities that so many of us take for granted like
food, clothing, housing and education," said Beatrice Jackson,
president of the Illinois chapter of the Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now. "I applaud the governor and the
Legislature for continuing to ensure that Illinois' low-wage workers
earn more for their hard work and for making a higher wage a reality
for thousands of workers in Illinois."
"Thanks to the hard work and diligence of Governor Blagojevich,
state lawmakers, labor leaders and workers' rights advocates around
the state, Illinois now has one of the most progressive minimum wage
laws in the country," said Michael T. Carrigan, president of the
Illinois AFL-CIO. "Beginning today, minimum wage workers will see a
steady increase in their pay each year over the next four years. By
2010, Illinois' minimum wage will be $8.25 an hour. This small but
critical pay increase will help working families pay for everyday
essentials and hopefully improve their quality of life."
This is the second minimum wage increase that Blagojevich has
championed. The first increase, signed into law in 2003, raised the
minimum wage from the federally mandated level of $5.15 an hour to
$5.50 an hour in 2004 and $6.50 in 2005. Prior to that initial
increase, minimum wage earners were suffering a significant loss in
purchasing power, as the federal minimum wage remained stagnant for
nearly a decade. When Blagojevich raised the minimum wage to $6.50,
it boosted the annual income of a full-time minimum wage worker to
$13,520, lifting a two-person family above the 2005 federal poverty
level of $12,500. However, in the two years since that increase took
effect, the federal poverty level for a two-person household rose to
$13,200, reflecting higher costs of living and rising consumer
prices for energy, groceries and other staples. Without another
increase in the minimum wage, Illinois workers earning $6.50 an hour
would have continued to earn a wage at or near the poverty level.
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 The new law boosts Illinois' minimum wage from $6.50 an hour to
$7.50 an hour, with further 25-cent increases until reaching $8.25
in July 2010. Raising the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour will
generate an additional $2,080 in annual wages for a full-time
minimum wage worker -- up to $15,600 per year. For a two-person
household in which each person works full time and earns the minimum
wage, that means an increase of more than $4,160 a year to spend on
basic needs. When the final rate of $8.25 per hour takes effect in
2010, Blagojevich will have helped boost the pay for minimum wage
workers in Illinois by $3.10 per hour, or 60 percent in seven years.
This makes Illinois a national leader in raising wages for
low-income workers.
Research has shown that a higher minimum wage contributes to more
jobs, a stronger economy and a better quality of life. The Economic
Policy Institute and Voices for Illinois Children found that
approximately 144,000 of the workers who would benefit directly from
the minimum wage increase are working parents, and nearly 60 percent
of them are women. Over 80 percent of minimum wage workers in
Illinois are working adults, not teenagers, and one-third of minimum
wage earners are sole breadwinners for their families. Increasing
the minimum wage will help boost the standard of living for 269,000
Illinois children.
"Improving our state's minimum wage will help working families
throughout Illinois to better handle the rising costs of their
‘basics,' from housing and food to transportation and utility
bills," said Jerry Stermer, president of Voices for Illinois
Children. "We applaud the governor and state legislators for taking
this substantial step. And we must continue these kinds of policy
efforts to help low-wage workers provide for their families."
The Illinois Department of Labor is reminding employers and
employees about the new minimum wage taking effect by distributing
required postings to business groups, labor unions, public
officials, civic and community organizations; developing
multilingual public service announcements for radio and print media,
including in Spanish and Polish; as well as posting information
online at
www.state.il.us/agency/idol.
"Starting today, the department will enforce a higher minimum
wage of $7.50 an hour in Illinois, so businesses and workers should
familiarize themselves with the law's new requirements," said
Illinois Department of Labor Director Catherine Shannon. "We are
conducting extensive outreach to create awareness and ensure
compliance with the law, and we remain committed to making sure
workers receive the wages they've earned."
[Text from file received from
the
Illinois Office of
Communication and Information]
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