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Illinois Minimum Wage

January 18th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

To quote an old song, things they are a’changing in Illinois. One of those changes is the Illinois minimum wage.

Delivering on his promise to improve the quality of life for thousands of Illinois’ hard working families, Governor Rod R. Blagojevich was recently joined by Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, U.S. Congressman Danny Davis and other legislators, labor leaders and workers to sign Senate Bill 1268.

“A minimum-wage increase was my top priority in the fall session of the Illinois General Assembly,” said Mayor Daley. “Low-income working families are among the people who deserve our support the most, and I think every caring person would agree they’re entitled to a raise. I want to thank all the people and organizations who worked so hard on this legislation. I thank the legislators who voted for it, and Governor Blagojevich for signing it,” said Mayor Daley.

The bill increases the Illinois minimum wage a total of $1.75 over 3 years. The first increase will come in July 2007, when the Illinois minimum wage will increase from $6.50 per hour to $7.50 per hour. That’s an increase of $1.00 per hour, a whopping rate by anybody’s standards.

The popular bill includes annual increases of 25 cents per hour each year on July 1. Experts estimate that 647,000 Illinois workers will benefit. The bill was sponsored by State Representative Marlow Colvin and Larry McKeon of Chicago, and State Senator Kimberly Lightford of Maywood. Here are the scheduled changes:

7/1/07 $7.50 per hour
7/1/08 $7.75 per hour
7/1/09 $8.00 per hour
7/2/10 $8.25 per hour

“The people of Illinois need and deserve to earn wages that are comparable to the hard work they do every day. This bill is just one more step in helping make life a little bit easier for Illinoisans,” said Senate President Emil Jones (D-Chicago).