The editorial that criticized Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposed state minimum wage increase is at best wrongheaded and at worst ammunition for those whose arguments help keep millions of people in poverty in the U.S. The governor’s determination to increase the state minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.50 an hour is a step in the right direction for poor people in Illinois. He would not only be keeping a campaign promise but would also be helping tens of thousands of state residents living at or below the federal poverty level.
The poor are not simply homeless, living on streets or in church shelters. Poor people work every day, full-time and year-round as teacher aides, child-care workers, restaurant workers and janitors. They just aren’t paid enough. The cost of living increases each year and the value of the current minimum wage is 30 percent below its peak in 1968 and 19 percent below what it was in 1981.
Workers are not making ends meet with $5.15 an hour when the cost of rent on average is $737 a month in Illinois.
Most minimum wage workers aren’t teenagers looking for extra money to spend at the mall but are adults over the age of 20. They are predominantly female and African-American or Latino, and are often the sole breadwinners in families with children. Others who earn the minimum wage are former welfare recipients who are only able to find low-wage jobs and remain impoverished.
It is also wrong to assert that increasing the minimum wage will cost the state jobs. According to Economic Policy Institute research, the last federal minimum wage increase in 1997 did not cause job losses, nor did it hurt teen employment. In addition, low-income workers are more likely to spend increased income, thus pouring more dollars into the state economy.
Increasing the state minimum wage will benefit business and families alike, and the governor should be lauded for keeping his word.
