Raising the minimum wage isn’t bad for business

By Sid Mohn, Guest Columnist and president of Heartland Alliance for Human Needs and Human Rights

This is very encouraging and shows that our hard work is paying off! The media is also starting to catch on that the evidence is behind us as well. As the Chicago Tribune recently reported:

“A now-famous case study published in 1994 by labor economists David Card and Alan Krueger began to change conventional wisdom. They compared employment trends in fast-food restaurants in New Jersey, which had just hiked its minimum wage, with trends in neighboring Pennsylvania, and found little impact on low-wage workers.

Berkeley’s Reich, along with two economists from the universities of Massachusetts Amherst and North Carolina, expanded on the research by examining restaurant employment in neighboring counties in different states with different minimum wage levels. They studied 16 years’ worth of data and found no negative effects on low-wage employment.

Instead, they found that higher wages reduced employee turnover, which saves business money.”

The Tribune also reported that, “Senate President John Cullerton and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie quickly embraced a possible wage hike. Cullerton flatly predicted, ‘We’ll be able to pass a minimum wage bill.’”

Please send a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and call your legislators to tell them why you support raising the minimum wage. They need to hear from Illinois workers and not just big business! Let your voice be heard. IMPORTANT: The bill number to raise the minimum wage has been changed to SENATE BILL 68 (It used to be SB 1565). When you talk about the bill to politicians of reporters, please use the updated bill number. Thank you!

Click below for recent news coverage:

Chicago Tribune, “Minimum wage hikes: Job killer or economic helper? Quinn rekindles debate”

New York Times, “Obama Pushes for Increase in Federal Minimum Wage”

The Guardian, “Denying minimum-wage workers a raise is craven and grotesque”

Huffington Post, “Obama: Minimum Wage Increase Will Boost ‘Rising, Thriving Middle Class’”

Click here to send a petition letter directly to your State Senator and Representative.

Click here to find your legislators and their phone numbers by entering your address.

We have been told by politicians and business lobbyists for years that it is not the right time to increase the minimum wage, but we know that the working poor can’t wait any longer for a raise! The minimum wage is in Illinois is currently $8.25, which is not enough to live on. A hardworking American with a full-time job should not be in poverty!

It is unjust that CEOs of big businesses are making thousands of dollars an hour, but they refuse to pay their workers a decent wage. Right now, the minimum wage doesn’t mean “the minimum amount needed to live.” It means “the minimum amount that rich corporations can get away with paying.”

Below are links to recent articles & studies about why the minimum wage should be increased (feel free to send these to your legislators as well):

Huffington Post, “Minimum Wage, the Poverty Trap, and America’s Imperative” by Sanjay Sanghoee

A new report, “Pulling Apart: A State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends” by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, highlights growing income inequality in each state (Illinois is in the top ten) and recommends raising the minimum wage

Crain’s Chicago, “Income gap widening fast in Illinois, new report says” by Greg Hinz

A new report, “Retail’s Hidden Potential: How Raising Wages Would Benefit Workers, the Industry and the Overall Economy” by Demos

Huffington Post, “Why Walmart and Big Retailers Should Pay Their Workers More” by Bob Herbert

New York Times, “The Twinkie Manifesto” by Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman

Click the images below for full-sized infographics:

Income Inequality in Illinois

Retail’s Hidden Potential

The report dispels the common myth that all low-wage workers (those making $12 an hour or less) are teenagers that just need disposable income. In fact, 94% of low-wage workers in 2011 were over 20 years old and 57.4 % were over the age of 30.

Annie Crawford, one of the low-wage workers profiled in the Sun-Times, is 56 years old, holds an associate degree in interior design, and has previously worked in that capacity making $50,000 a year. Now she cannot find a job in that field and makes $8.25 an hour at a quick service restaurant. (Photo: Al Podgorski)

Other findings from the report:

• 31.2 percent of payroll employees ages 18-64 worked in low-wage jobs (paying $12 or less per hour) in 2011. This represents a substantial increase from the 23.8 percent of workers employed in low-wage jobs in 2001.

• In 2001, fewer than 10 percent of low-wage job holders had a college degree. Today, more than 16 percent, or approximately 1 in 6, hold college degrees.

• Increasingly, low-wage jobs play a crucial role in supporting households, rather than augmenting core income. More than half of the Chicago area’s low-wage workers (56.7 percent) live in households that get all of their income from low-wage jobs. This represents a substantial increase from the 45.7 percent of households fully reliant on low-wage jobs in 2001.

• $12 per hour represents a modest and conservative measure of low-wage work. At this wage level, a full-time worker living by herself will barely be able to cover life’s basic costs without public assistance. When a worker earning $12 per hour is supporting family or other household members, public assistance programs will likely be indispensable to household subsistence.

Press coverage of the report:

Chicago Sun-Times, “Low-wage work force grows 30% as the number of jobs shrinks”

WBEZ Chicago Public Radio, “New study: Low-wage workers in Chicago are older, more educated”

Chicago Sun-Times, “Too often, hard work goes unrewarded”

Governor Quinn speaking with Raise Illinois community activist Mahaley Somerville at a rally in downtown Chicago

“Illinois Governor Pat Quinn wants to raise the state’s minimum wage.  His support comes as new census data shows more Illinois residents are living in poverty.

Illinois saw 150,000 more people slide into poverty last year, for a total of about 1.9 million of the state’s nearly 13 million residents.

Governor Pat Quinn says raising the state’s minimum wage would help turn those figures around.

‘I believe in this.  The minimum wage is set up to fight poverty,’ he said. ‘There are families in Illinois who are working 40 hours a week and still living in poverty.  That to me defies the Biblical principle that if you work hard, you should not live in poverty.’ “

Click below for links to news coverage:

WUIS News, “Governor Wants To Combat Rising Poverty With Minimum Wage Hike”

WJBD Radio, “Governor Quinn Wants to Raise Minimum Wage”

NELP found that, “during the recession (2008 Q1 to 2010 Q1), employment losses occurred throughout the economy, but were concentrated in mid-wage occupations.  By contrast, during the recovery (2010 Q1 to 2012 Q1), employment gains have been concentrated in lower-wage occupations, which grew 2.7 times as fast as mid-wage and higher-wage occupations.

Chart from NELP’s “The Low Wage Recovery” Report. Click image to see full size.

Specifically:

• Lower-wage occupations constituted 21 percent of recession losses, but 58 percent of recovery growth.
• Mid-wage occupations constituted 60 percent of recession losses, but only 22 percent of recovery growth.
• Higher-wage occupations constituted 19 percent of recession job losses, and 20 percent of recovery growth.”

If the number of low-wage jobs are increasing while the number of middle class jobs are decreasing, American workers need a raise in the minimum wage now more than ever! If the minimum wage doesn’t increase soon, a majority of the workers in one of the richest nations in the world will be living in poverty.

Click here to send a letter directly to your Illinois State Senator and Representative urging them to pass Senate Bill 1565 to raise the minimum wage!

The was also good coverage of this report the New York Times, to read the article click here.

The protest outside of the Chamber of Commerce office in Chicago!

On June 24th, hundreds of working people in Illinois gathered at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago to demand a raise in the minimum wage!

There were similar protests held in other areas of Illinois, like Springfield and Peoria, as well as in many other cities all over the country!

June 24th was a day of action where working Americans united to take back our economy and demand a living wage for a hard day of work! Click here to see photos from rallies all over the country.

Minimum wage rally in Springfield, Illinois!

In Chicago, we marched from the Thompson Center to the Aon Center, where the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce is located. The Chamber of Commerce has consistently opposed raising the minimum wage and uses its lobbying power in Springfield to stop legislation that would help workers. The Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce only looks out for the interests of big business and the 1%, so we showed up demonstrate the power of the 99% and to call for them to end their fight against increasing the minimum wage.

Minimum Wage worker Denise Brown explains the difficulty of making ends meet on $8.25 an hour

Please sign one or all of the petitions below to to show our Illinois and national legislators that working Americans support raising the minimum wage!

• Illinois petition

• National petition

As a result of the June 24th Day of Action, the fight to raise the minimum wage has burst onto the headlines of major national news outlets. See some of the press coverage below:

New York Times, “Planning a March, and Envisioning a Movement, to Unite Low-Wage Workers”

MSNBC, “Top economists: Time to raise the minimum wage”

U.S. News, “An Increase in the Minimum Wage Is Long Overdue”

Forbes, “Women Need a Raise in the Minimum Wage”

Reuters, “Three years after last increase, business group calls for U.S. minimum wage hike”

Huffington Post, “Raising the Minimum Wage is Cheap and Easy”

The Washington Post, “Low-wage workers plan NYC protest march next week; part of actions planned around US”

Think Progress, “STUDY: One In Four Private Sector Workers Earn Less Than $10 An Hour”

Daily Kos, “Big companies employ two in three low-wage workers”

Huffington Post, “Want a Real Recovery? Raise the Minimum Wage”

Aziza M. M. Nassar from Arise Chicago, another member organization of Raise Illinois, got a Letter to the Editor published in the Southwest News Herald. Click here to read, “Wants Landek To Back Rise in Minimum Wage.”

There have also been two new great research articles by the Center For American Progress that support the case for a higher minimum wage, “The Facts on Raising the Minimum Wage When Unemployment Is High” and “Women Are the Biggest Losers from Failure to Raise Minimum Wage”.

Please use these resources to inform others! Share them on your facebook, twitter or blog!

An increase in the Illinois Min

Please call, email and fax your State Senator today!

CLICK HERE to go to the District Locator to find out who your State Senator is and how to reach him/her.

We need as many people as possible to reach out to their Senators and voice a strong message for working families: Pass Senate Bill 1565 to raise the minimum wage in Illinois!

Once you have entered your address into the District Locator, click on the name of your State Senator and you will find their contact info. Calling their Springfield office is the most important, but you can call their District office as well.

Senator Kimberly Lightford, lead sponsor of SB 1565

Thanks to our sponsor, Senator Kimberly Lightford, and all the Democrats on the committee!  The bill, SB 1565, which would raise the minimum wage from $8.25/hour to over $10/hour in fifty cent per year increments by 2014, received the support of every Democrat and the opposition of every Republican.  If you want to reduce the extreme inequalities in our economy, you can help by taking action today.  Click here to find your Illinois legislators. We still need the bill to pass through the full Senate as well as the House of Representatives.

Minimum wage worker and grandmother Evalin Boblitt speaking about her struggle to raise the three grandchildren she takes care of on her own.

Below are links to some of the press coverage around the state.  The first one is an interview with a Springfield grandmother who is raising her three grandchildren on a minimum wage job as a dishwasher in a diner.

“Illinois Minimum Wage Bill Moves out of Committee” on CBS Channel 31 in Peoria

“Bill To Increase State Minimum Wage Moves Passes Out Of Committee” on WICS-TV

“IL Senate committee votes to send minimum-wage hike to the floor” in Illinois Statehouse News 

“Minimum Wage Bill Making Progress” on IllinoisHomepage.net

“Illinois legislature to consider increasing the minimum wage” in Daily American News

“State Senate Committee Approves Minimum Wage Hike” on CBS Chicago News  

“Illinois committee OKs higher minimum wage” in Peoria Journal Star

“Illinois Senate committee votes to send minimum-wage hike to the floor” on FOX Illinois

“Minimum wage proposal advances in Illinois” in Quad City Times

“Vote on $10 minimum wage goes to Ill. Senate floor” in The Southern Illinoisan

“Illinois Minimum Wage Could Be Raised Significantly” on WIBQ-FM Terre Haute Radio

 “Illinois Minimum Wage Bill Advances” in Progress Illinois

“Bill increasing Illinois’ minimum wage moves forward” in STLToday.com

Greg Kaufman wrote an article for The Nation called, “This Week In Poverty: Will The Poor Get Poorer In The Land Of Lincoln?” which fleshes out how low-income Illinois residents will be affected by budget cuts. He throws his support behind Senate Bill 1565, saying, “Finally, another piece of legislation in Illinois that would make a real difference in the lives of low-income people: a proposal to increase the minimum wage from $8.25 to $10.65 per hour over four years, and then index it to inflation. Tipped workers—currently paid only $4.95 per hour—would also be paid the new, full minimum wage. Currently, 100,000 state residents work full time, year-round, and still live below the poverty line, earning about $16,500 per year. The bill is expected to be voted on in committee next week. This is a critical moment for people living in poverty in Illinois—hard times could get a lot harder in the coming months. If you’re a state resident, contact your representatives—tell them to oppose reducing TANF eligibility to three years; oppose raising child care co-payments; support the supplemental appropriation to pay for TANF benefits; and support raising the minimum wage.“

There is also an eye-opening infographic that is going viral about the wage gap in America called, “15 Facts About America’s Income Inequality” by Kristy Tillman. Below are some images from the infographic:

On Tuesday, May 1st, the Decatur Jobs Council voted to support Senate Bill 1565, our bill to raise the minimum wage. As the Herald-Review reported, “the jobs council voted to support Illinois Senate Bill 1565, which would tie the state’s minimum wage to increases in the cost of living. The bill was introduced by Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester. Steve Simmons, statewide policy associate for the Chicago Jobs Council, also encouraged jobs council members to support the bill by participating in a rally day on May 17 at the state Capitol in Springfield. Darsonya Switzer, housing program director for Homeward Bound and chairwoman of the Decatur Jobs Council, said she planned to go and take some of her clients.”

Graphic from NELP report (Click to enlarge)

Last but not least, the National Employment Law Project (NELP) released a report, “Slower Wage Growth, Declining Real Wages Undermine Recovery,” that shows how working families continue to make less and less while corporations pull in record profits. The report also recommends raising the minimum wage as a way to address the decline in wages, “Prolonged, high unemployment continues to weaken wage growth for workers, undermining more vibrant economic recovery. The expansion of low-wage work and reduced earnings for those affected by the recession amplify these concerns. At the same time, even relatively weak wage growth is not reaching all workers. Raising and indexing the minimum wage begins to address the problem of low wages and boost economic recovery by stimulating demand and creating jobs.“