SPRINGFIELD – The minimum wage in Illinois is about to go up by a dollar. According to the Illinois Department of Labor, it will be $9.25 per hour on January 1, 2020. It will rise to $10 per hour on July 1, 2020.
State lawmakers approved the wage hike in February, and it’s the first of several scheduled for the next few years. By 2025, the minimum wage will be $15 per hour.
Democrat Will Guzzardi, a state representative from Chicago, sponsored the legislation in the House.
“If somebody shows up to work and works hard where they can care for their families,” said Guzzardi. “They deserve to earn a living so that they can care for their families. It’s a basic principle of society and it’s one we’ve failed to live up to in recent years.”
Also included in the new minimum wage law are tax credits for businesses with 50 employees or fewer.
Those are designed to lighten the blow of paying workers higher wages, but they’re only temporary. The law will phase out the credits once the state minimum hits $15.