Illinois Needs A Raise –
A Dependable One Year After Year
2003 Illinois Minimum Wage Increase
• Raised minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50
– (Two steps: $5.50 in 2004 and $6.50 in 2005)
• Changes we didn’t win in 2003:
– No Future Wage Increases or Indexing
– Tip Credit
– Under 18 Wage
– Training Wage
Gov. Blagojevich and Mayor Daley’s
Proposal to Increase Minimum Wage
• Raise state minimum wage to $7.50 from $6.50
(effective July 1)
• Indexing to CPI
• Training Wage, Under 18 Wage and Tip Credit –
still unknown
• Want to pass in veto session
Impact of Proposed
Minimum Wage Increase
• Governor’s office said raise will help 500,000
Illinois residents
• 15.7% of non-tipped workers earn $7.50 per hour or
less
• 9.8% of non-tipped workers earn between $7.50 and
$8.50 per hour
• Tipped employees?
State Minimum Wage Laws
• 22 States + D.C. currently have minimum
wage above the federal level
• Without increase, in 2007 Illinois will fall to
18th of the 23 with higher minimum wages
• 6 States have ballot initiatives on Nov. 7 – all
are states currently at federal minimum wage
State Ballot Initiatives
• Arizona: $6.75 + indexing; 303,000 workers affected
• Colorado: $6.85 + indexing; 138,000 workers affected
• Missouri: $6.50 + indexing; 256,000 workers affected
• Montana: $6.15 + indexing; 44,000 workers affected
• Nevada: $6.15 + indexing; 101,000 workers affected
• Ohio: $6.85 + indexing; 719,000 workers affected
Why Indexing Is Essential
• Indexing ensures that low-wage workers don’t lose ground
to rising prices, regardless of the political climate.
• During the 1950s and 1960s, the minimum wage varied
between 44% and 56% of the average wage. Without
indexing it has fallen to only 31% of the average wage.
• Indexing provides employers with predictable and steady
changes in the minimum wage, rather than unpredictable
wage costs subject to changing political winds.
Indexing: The Next Step in the America
Needs a Raise Campaign
• 4 states currently have indexing.
– WA: 1998; ballot
– OR: 2002; ballot
– FL: 2004; ballot
– VT: 2005; legislative
• 10 of the 19 states in the 2006 America Needs a Raise
Campaign proposed indexing.
• All 6 ballot initiatives have indexing.