Raise Illinois

UPDATE: The Illinois bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.65 has been changed from Senate Bill 1565 to SENATE BILL 68. Please reference the correct bill number when speaking to legislators, reporters, supporters, etc.

Materials

• Frequently Asked Questions About The Minimum Wage
• State Represenative Support Letter – This is the letter that we need Illinois State Representatives to sign to commit to supporting a co-sponsoring the Minimum Wage Bill (SB 1565) when it comes to the House.

• Grassroots Lobbying Report Form – This form has simple instructions about what to do when lobbying legislators and how to record what happened. When this form is completed, please give it to a member of the Raise Illinois coalition so that we can update our lobbying document.
• Top Ten Reasons To Raise The Minimum Wage in PDF form

Does your organization want to join Raise Illinois? Click here for the Raise Illinois Endorsement Form!

Research that supports the case for an increase in the minimum wage in Illinois:

• Study: Minimum Wage Impacts On Unemployment by Michael Thompson, Economic Research Analyst at Indiana University Kelly School of Business
• Powerpoint Presentation of Michael Thompson’s research

• Study: Minimum Wage Effects Across State Borders by Arindrajit Dube, T. William Lester, and Michael Reich in The Review of Economics and Statistics
• “The Spending and Debt Response to Minimum Wage Hikes” by Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago economists Daniel Aaronson, Sumit Agarwal and Eric French
• “Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania” by David Card and Alan Krueger from The American Economic Review
• Testimony of Marc Doussard, Research Assistant Professor at University Of Chicago, on SB 1565 (now called SB 68) for the Senate Executive Committee

• Poll showing strong support for minimum wage increase in Illinois by Kiley & Company, Opinion Research Consultants

• Study: A Year of Unbalanced Growth: Industries, Wages, and the First 12 Months of Job Growth After the Great Recession by the National Employment Law Project
• Do Minimum Wages Really Reduce Teen Employment? by Sylvia Allegretto, Arindrajit Dube and Michael Reich in the journal Industrial Relations
•  The Benefits Of Raising Illinois’ Minimum Wage by Mary Gable and Douglas Hall of the Economic Policy Institute
• Fair Pay for Women and People of Color in Illinois Requires Increasing the Minimum Wage and the Tipped Minimum Wage by the National Women’s Law Center
• Slower Wage Growth, Declining Real Wages Undermine Recovery by the National Employment Law Project

• Wall Street Journal Article: Workers Not Benefiting From Productivity Gains

Here are also some videos we have made that are up on Youtube. (Feel free to email them to your friends and legislators, share on Facebook, Twitter , etc.)

• Video about the Raise Illinois coalition. Has testimony from minimum wage workers, business owners and legislators that support an increase in the minimum wage in Illinois!

• Video of Michael Thompson, Economic Research Analyst from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, speaking about the effect of a raise in the minimum wage on employment. (This is useful to combat the common and false argument by businesses that raising the minimum wage will lead to a loss of jobs)