Sangamon Sun

While not a bill as of yet, the threat of a $15 wage is imminent as the Democratic Party has added it to its campaign platform, and many government officials are backing its passage.

Illinois residents have a lot to lose if the legislation goes into effect nationwide. The biggest detriment to the wage hike is the loss of jobs that will occur, as employers  ultimately would reduce labor because it would cost too much to keep all current employees and pay them $15 per hour. It is estimated that Illinois would lose 300,000 jobs because of the wage increase. Nationwide, this number skyrockets to 9 million jobs.

“The most important adverse effect of the minimum wage is a reduction in employment, most of it concentrated among the young, poor, least-skilled and minorities,” Kim Maish, Illinois state director at the National Federation of Independent Business, told the Sangamon Sun. “Minimum-wage increases do not help reduce poverty. While the few employees who earn a wage increase might benefit from a wage hike, those that lose their job are noticeably worse off.”

Employees whom the act is designed to help are often young people who are under-skilled. With the $15 minimum-wage increase, it will be more difficult for these individuals to find jobs because of their inexperience.

“A higher wage also hurts the very people it is supposed to help,” Maish said. “The overwhelming number of minimum wage workers are young people, often in their first job. Only 20.8 percent of all minimum-wage workers are family heads or spouses working full-time, 30.8 percent were children and 32.2 percent are young Americans enrolled in school.”

Even if the minimum-wage increase wouldn’t affect your salary directly, as an Illinois taxpayer, you would be subject to price increases in products and services from companies that employ minimum-wage employees.

“A higher minimum wage will most definitely cause an increase in prices for everyday items, in restaurants and for entertainment,” Maish said. “While some would see their wages go up, the fear is that any increase would evaporate given an almost inevitable hike in consumer goods. Small businesses only have so many dollars available to pay for labor costs. When government steps in and artificially raises labor costs, their only options are to raise prices, cut benefits or lay off workers.”

While earning a $15 minimum wage in the communities that surround Chicago would be a beneficial increase, in the city itself, it wouldn’t go as far with Chicago’s high cost of living.

“While a minimum wage is often a political issue, in Illinois, it has also become a regional issue,” Maish said. “Earning $15 an hour in Chicago is a lot different than making $15 an hour in Carbondale. Many downstate lawmakers, from both political parties, recognize a huge hike in our state’s minimum wage would be detrimental to small business, as well as low-wage earners looking for work.”