Strong minimum wage good for state

When Illinois's state minimum wage rose from $8 an $8.25 this summer, one person was not happy about this modest increase - state Sen. and Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady. He did himself no favors in speaking out against this increase and dug himself even deeper when he proposed actually cutting the state minimum wage to match the federal minimum wage floor of $7.25 an hour.

His argument - that the state minimum wage is behind high unemployment and our continuing recession - makes no economic sense. First, our economy is powered by consumer spending, but consumers can't spend what they don't have. A strong minimum wage is one of the best ways to stimulate our economy because it puts money into the pockets of low-income families who spend it immediately on basic necessities in their local communities.

In fact, a recent study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago found that minimum wage increases boost consumer spending substantially more than tax cuts do. Second, the experiences of states with minimum wages higher than the federal floor have produced scant evidence of job loss. A Fiscal Policy Institute analysis between 1997 and 2007 showed that these states' job growth was actually stronger overall, not weaker, than that in states with the lower, federal minimum wage.

Illinois is one of 14 states with a minimum wage above the federal floor - part of a growing recognition that the federal minimum wage is just not enough to make ends meet. In fact, even at $8.25 an hour (or $16,500 a year for a full-time worker), Illinois' minimum wage falls short of what the federal minimum wage would be today - over $10 an hour - had it kept pace with inflation.

We still have a ways to go before the minimum wage really keeps working people out of poverty.

Michelle Young

President

Action Now

Chicago