Andrade Backs Raise of Minimum Wage to Lift Up Working Families

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Standing with working families across Illinois, state Rep. Jaime Andrade, D-Chicago, helped pass legislation that raises Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 over the next few years.

“We have not increased our minimum wage since 2011, yet the cost of living has continued to rise. Working families can’t support themselves with our current, outdated minimum wage,” Andrade said. “Corporate profits and CEO salaries have never been higher, while full-time workers are being forced into lives of poverty.”

Andrade sponsored and voted to pass Senate Bill 81, which would gradually increase the current $8.25 minimum wage, starting in 2018 to $9 per hour, to an ending amount of $15 by 2022. The bill also creates a tax credit, which would offer small businesses with fewer than 50 workers a credit toward their income tax liability. The measure is part of Andrade’s economic reform agenda that aims to grow the state’s economy by prioritizing lifting up working families while closing corporate tax loopholes and leveling the playing field for small and medium-sized businesses.

“The status quo pads the profit margins of huge corporations that employ workers at low salaries—these folks are working low-wage jobs, unable to provide for their family, and forced on government assistance programs, costing taxpayers more money,” Andrade said. “If the governor signs our proposal, workers will be able to provide for their families without government assistance and will have more disposable income to spend in our state’s economy. This is a win-win scenario.”

Senate Bill 81 passed the House and the Senate and is waiting to be signed into law by the governor.