(The Center Square) – Illinois employers are bracing for minimum-wage hikes, which may lead to more job cuts around the state.
Illinois’ minimum wage is rising from $14 per hour to $15 on Jan 1, the final increase in a series of annual increases from a law Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed in February of 2019. In addition, the minimum wage for tipped workers is increasing from $8.40 per hour to $9. The youth minimum wage, for workers under age working fewer than 650 hours per calendar year, is going up from $12 per hour to $13.
“I’m very, very proud about the work that we did to get from $8.25 to $15. That’s a big jump, and it put us in a leadership position in the Midwest for attracting great workers to the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said.
When asked at a news conference earlier this month, the governor did not rule out another minimum wage hike.
“I think we did it the right way when we did it back in 2019. I haven’t seen a proposal yet for a change going forward,” Pritzker said.
In February 2019, when the law passed, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.8%. It’s now 5.3%, third highest in the U.S. Only Nevada (5.7%) and California (5.4%) are higher. The national unemployment rate in November was 4.1%.