 The Cook County Board approved a minimum wage increase to $13 an hour for the
suburbs Oct. 26. But one northwest suburb is pushing back, citing the policy’s
likelihood of killing jobs.
Barrington officials approved an ordinance letting local businesses forgo the
county ordinance that would gradually increase the county’s minimum wage to $13
by 2020. Barrington is split between Cook and Lake counties, and the village
manager worried businesses would disproportionally favor the Lake County side
with the new Cook County wage mandate.
The village’s ordinance allows businesses to comply just with state and federal
minimum wage laws. The Cook County ordinance will make the minimum wage $10 in
July 2017 and would increase a dollar each year until $13 in 2020. The Illinois
Constitution allows non-home-rule municipalities like Barrington, to pass
ordinances that conflict with county measures.
Barrington officials are right to be concerned, and communities across Cook
County should have the same worries.
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 Along with other job-killing policies in Illinois, a high minimum
wage has disproportionally worked against young and minority
workers. The Land of Lincoln had the highest black unemployment rate
in the nation and nearly half of black males in Illinois aged
20-to-24 out of work in 2014. Had former Gov. Pat Quinn succeeded in
his efforts to increase the state’s minimum wage before he left
office, economists estimated Illinois would’ve lost 10,500 youth
employment opportunities, with black, male teens being hurt most.
Regressive policies like minimum wage hikes are not uncommon for
Cook County officials, who also recently passed a tax on sugary
drinks that disproportionally affects poor and minority residents as
well. The county is also home to one of the nation’s highest sales
taxes, bound to hurt the poorest county residents the most, with
others fleeing the county altogether.
Cook County politicians should not be preying on the area’s poor and
minority residents to fix financial woes created by decades of
reckless spending, and they should not be restricting businesses
trying to employ people who need work. Villages like Barrington –
concerned about opportunities evaporating for Illinoisans eager for
them – are taking the right approach. Instead of handcuffing
business owners and over burdening taxpayers, Cook County officials
need to look for real reforms and cuts to correct their finances.
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