State's minimum wage rises to $7.75 per hour

SPRINGFIELD - Minimum-wage workers in Illinois are getting a 25-cent hourly boost in pay, to $7.75 per hour.

The raise took effect Tuesday. It is the second in a four-step wage increase adopted by the General Assembly and Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2006. The final steps lift the wage to $8 next July and $8.25 in July 2010.

"Thousands of workers struggle every day at work to provide for their families," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement.

"During a time of national economic crisis, increasing Illinois' minimum wage will help workers put food on the table, pay for gas and provide health care and education for their families."

The increase will mean $520 more per year for 650,000 workers, state officials say.

It translates into a salary of $16,120 annually.

A family of two is considered living in poverty if its income is $13,200 a year.

The pay rate is nearly $2 higher than the federal standard.

That standard will increase to $6.55 from $5.85 on July 24 and to $7.25 next July.

Critics of a higher minimum wage argue that it raises costs for business and mostly helps teenagers who don't need to support families.

But the administration points to research by the Economic Policy Institute and Voices for Illinois Children that showed 144,000 of the workers who benefit from the increase are working parents, nearly 60 percent of whom are women.

More than 80 percent of wage-earners are working adults, not teenagers, and one-third bring in the family's only salary.

Workers not receiving the wage or who have questions should call the Illinois Department of Labor at (800) 478-3998.