State Senate Proposes Minimum Wage Increase

By Prescott Carlson in News on Feb 12, 2011 5:30PM

As if the recent Illinois tax increases weren't enough to send the state's conservative Chicken Littles crying that businesses would flee the Land of Lincoln in droves and take their jerbs with them, now the State Senate Democrats are proposing a 20% increase to the minimum wage.

The Sun-Times reports that Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood) has penned a proposal that would raise the current minimum wage of $8.25 an hour with annual increases "by 50 cents plus the rate of inflation" until it reaches over $10 an hour. The current federal rate is $7.25 an hour.

Naturally the state Republicans, whose recent gubernatorial candidate floated the idea of lowering the state's minimum wage, are against the idea. State Rep. Dan Brady (R-88) told downstate radio station WJBC:

"We saw a huge drop in 2009 in youth employment. So, that raise that we bumped things to over the last few years hasn't done what many claimed it would do for youth employment and other employment in the state."

President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce also disagrees with the timing of the proposal, telling the S-T it "would be totally out of touch with the economic conditions in the state of Illinois because we already have the highest minimum wage between the Rocky Mountains and Appalachians."