Illinois 15 dollar/hr incremental raise

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Under the plan, the Illinois minimum wage would first rise from $8.25 per hour to $9.25 on Jan. 1, then gradually increase every year until it hits $15 per hour six years from now. Calls to have a higher minimum wage near Chicago than Downstate were ignored, so the plan approved Thursday would take effect statewide.


https://www.chicagotribune.com/news...ker-minimum-wage-20190214-story,amp.html

Just wow.
 
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Now how many businesses are going to rush into surrounding states? Or the inevitable price hikes to cover those wages which will drive more to do their shopping in other states? There is already a pretty significant influx of businesses and people here.
 
Ours in Ontario jumped to $14/hr over night and now it's tied to inflation unless the current party decides to roll that back. If minimum wage kept up with inflation it would be over $20/hr and there are other jurisdictions in the world paying this for things like McDonalds jobs and their cost of food isn't that much higher than what we pay so I think it's doable.

I also think it's important considering a lot of the better paying jobs have left thanks to off shoring and folks with families need to work somewhere and make ends-meat so why shouldn't someone working a full 40 hours a week be afforded at least the bare necessities of life? And what about the millennials that can't find jobs and that have student debt out the wazoo?

It was proven that paying $20/hr to someone flipping burgers would only increase the cost of the burger at McDonalds something like $0.25 each. Seems like a no brainer to me... We have to stop looking down on minimum wage earners. These jobs are important for the economy to function the same as a CEO's job. It takes all types to make the economy function.

Costs have gone through the roof and wages have been flat for almost 50 years!

Just my
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When they did this in WA state, businesses started to reduce employee numbers or their hours. The restaurant industry felt the effects very strongly.

There is always an opposite effect on stuff like this.
 
I can't remember how the Ontario minimum wage increased, but it went up to $14 an hour I believe Jan 1, 2018? Cashiers dissapeared and prices went up immediately, people working those minimum wage jobs got their hours, breaks or benefits cut, etc. There was a big uproar when Tim Hortons cut some benefit that they gave their employees. A lot of full time minimum wage jobs were cut or turned into part time positions.

I think it has to do with high cost of living in major cities. In Ontario I think it had to do with the rapid rise in housing costs out stripping the availability of subsidized housing in Toronto. I heard recently that the wait list for subsidized housing in Toronto was 200000 names long. The article mentions that the movement started in Chicago, where cost of living would be the highest (I assume).

Raising minimum wage seems to only help employees who are valuable enough to not get their hours cut. I would argue that they could have negotiated a high wage or found a higher paying job anyway. I really think it has to do with maintaining a voting block of urban poor who can augment their hours getting cut with partial unemployment benefits and the ability to live in a large city with access to social services. In addition to social services, large cities also contain diasporas for the large amount of foreigners working those minimum wage jobs.
 
Originally Posted by Skippy722
Now how many businesses are going to rush into surrounding states? Or the inevitable price hikes to cover those wages which will drive more to do their shopping in other states? There is already a pretty significant influx of businesses and people here.


Some of that is FUD put out by business owners trying to sway it as a bad idea. The question on how much it will go up in costs to consumer is unknown. It forces business owners to become more efficient and adapt. I seriously doubt driving to another state for smaller items would occur because the time and fuel costs would go up for the consumer.

It does hurt businesses that run on the brink of failure with a cost increase. Others soak it in and pass some of it on or dump the dead weight on your work force.
 
Originally Posted by maxdustington
I can't remember how the Ontario minimum wage increased, but it went up to $14 an hour I believe Jan 1, 2018? Cashiers dissapeared and prices went up immediately, people working those minimum wage jobs got their hours, breaks or benefits cut, etc. There was a big uproar when Tim Hortons cut some benefit that they gave their employees. A lot of full time minimum wage jobs were cut or turned into part time positions.

I think it has to do with high cost of living in major cities. In Ontario I think it had to do with the rapid rise in housing costs out stripping the availability of subsidized housing in Toronto. I heard recently that the wait list for subsidized housing in Toronto was 200000 names long. The article mentions that the movement started in Chicago, where cost of living would be the highest (I assume).

Raising minimum wage seems to only help employees who are valuable enough to not get their hours cut. I would argue that they could have negotiated a high wage or found a higher paying job anyway. I really think it has to do with maintaining a voting block of urban poor who can augment their hours getting cut with partial unemployment benefits and the ability to live in a large city with access to social services. In addition to social services, large cities also contain diasporas for the large amount of foreigners working those minimum wage jobs.


Um no... This didn't happen. There was fear mongering in the news about it but it was proven later that employment increased during this time by 10,000 jobs during the period the increase happened, I'm trying to find the article in the Toronto Star that quotes the stats. As for Tim Hortons, this was a handful of greedy owners and the other owners revolted against them because of it.

Ok I can't find the Toronto Star one but here is the same from Huff-Po: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/13/minimum-wage-hike-ontario-job-growth_a_23501349/

Quote
Many experts predicted that Ontario's hefty minimum wage hike to $14 an hour at the start of this year would harm the province's job creation.

TD Bank issued a study suggesting the move could cost the province some 90,000 jobs. Industry group Restaurants Canada warned the wage hike, along with other labour law reforms, would put 185,000 jobs at risk, including 17,000 in food services.

Some employers seemed to get downright nasty to their workers in the wake of the wage hike. Take, for instance, reports of some Tim Hortons franchisees cutting paid breaks and benefits for workers.

But six months later, there is no sign of the wage hike having negatively impacted job creation in Ontario. The province added some 60,000 jobs in July (though many of those were in the public sector) and its unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data — the lowest rate in 18 years.
 
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The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and needs to be higher than it is. We can't complain about people at the bottom getting assistance and on the other hand not want to pay them decent wages so they don't need assistance.
 
Originally Posted by ZZman
The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and needs to be higher than it is. We can't complain about people at the bottom getting assistance and on the other hand not want to pay them decent wages so they don't need assistance.


Exactly. You can pay them in assistance or we can all pay a tad marginally more and have them become a productive member self sustaining themselves.
Don't know about you but I would rather they fish for themselves then us give them free fish.
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Originally Posted by StevieC
Originally Posted by maxdustington
I can't remember how the Ontario minimum wage increased, but it went up to $14 an hour I believe Jan 1, 2018? Cashiers dissapeared and prices went up immediately, people working those minimum wage jobs got their hours, breaks or benefits cut, etc. There was a big uproar when Tim Hortons cut some benefit that they gave their employees. A lot of full time minimum wage jobs were cut or turned into part time positions.

I think it has to do with high cost of living in major cities. In Ontario I think it had to do with the rapid rise in housing costs out stripping the availability of subsidized housing in Toronto. I heard recently that the wait list for subsidized housing in Toronto was 200000 names long. The article mentions that the movement started in Chicago, where cost of living would be the highest (I assume).

Raising minimum wage seems to only help employees who are valuable enough to not get their hours cut. I would argue that they could have negotiated a high wage or found a higher paying job anyway. I really think it has to do with maintaining a voting block of urban poor who can augment their hours getting cut with partial unemployment benefits and the ability to live in a large city with access to social services. In addition to social services, large cities also contain diasporas for the large amount of foreigners working those minimum wage jobs.


Um no... This didn't happen. There was fear mongering in the news about it but it was proven later that employment increased during this time by 10,000 jobs during the period the increase happened, I'm trying to find the article in the Toronto Star that quotes the stats. As for Tim Hortons, this was a handful of greedy owners and the other owners revolted against them because of it.

Ok I can't find the Toronto Star one but here is the same from Huff-Po: https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/08/13/minimum-wage-hike-ontario-job-growth_a_23501349/


I'd avoid posting something from the Star, they were insanely Pro-Wynne and anything she stood for. Maybe something from the slightly more neutral CBC?

There definitely was an increase in automation. Shoppers Drug Mart got more automated tellers, so did Home Depot. Our Home Depot now has like 1 regular checkout and 6 self ones. Our Shoppers locations now routinely run a single register at the most, sometimes none at all, expecting everybody to use the self checkout. Canadian Tire seems to just run fewer registers now, same with Sobeys.
 
Yes I know they are "Left" biased like Huff-Po, but the bank did the study and that is what matters. Also can't argue with Goverment statistics... So...

As for automation... This is inevitable across all sectors but despite this being implemented the unemployment rate still fell to the lowest level in 18 years after the hike.
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Minimum wage earners spend the most back into the economy so it really does benefit everyone if they are paid more.
 
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Originally Posted by ZZman
The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation and needs to be higher than it is. We can't complain about people at the bottom getting assistance and on the other hand not want to pay them decent wages so they don't need assistance.


They may just continue to get assistance. It depends on the threshold. Lots of folks working minimum wage jobs are living in Community housing, ergo their rent and everything else is subsidized and yes, some of these people are exploiting that situation as you see them driving brand new vehicles, which, if they can pay the ticket on, should be going toward rent that is presently being paid by my tax dollars, but I don't assume that to be the case for most in that situation.

For the folks who don't take the handouts and are struggling, I appreciate that things can be quite difficult. I think if the system was better monitored/controlled and exploitation curtailed that there would be more resources to aide these folks rather than just increasing the cost of everything to try and mask it, which may help a little, but isn't going to have a profound impact on their living situation, whilst kicking out Joe Dealsdope and his grow-op from subsidized housing and getting them in there to something geared-to-income, leaving them with more in their wallet, strikes me as being significantly more effective.
 
Originally Posted by HuffPost
But six months later, there is no sign of the wage hike having negatively impacted job creation in Ontario. The province added some 60,000 jobs in July (though many of those were in the public sector) and its unemployment rate fell to 5.4 per cent, according to Statistics Canada data — the lowest rate in 18 years.

In Ontario's case, that may have to do lately with the very strong population growth the province has seen over the past year — up about 1.8 per cent, according to a recent analysis from Bank of Montreal. That is creating a lot of new demand in the economy.
Notice how their data is collected after Doug Ford was elected, not before. I'll bet the February and March 2018 data was a lot worse. Public sector jobs are also rarely minimum wage.

An article full of holes from a notoriously biased news outlet. Citing a Huff Post article in a political discussion!
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Interesting from an economics standpoint about what will happen.

At first, it will bunch up a lot of wages from entry level to experienced folks.

Companies have a fixed amount to spend on wages, They will have to have less people employed or else raise prices.

A lot of economics are wacky today. Rent for a decent house is like $1500 to $2000 a month. You can buy such a house for the same or less money per month.
 
All I have to see is all the stores, post increase to minimum wage, that installed self checkouts and replaced minimum wage jobs with automation .. Shoppers, Independent Grocer, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
Don't need Torstar or Huff and Puff Post to tell me what I see every day.
 
Originally Posted by Danno
All I have to see is all the stores, post increase to minimum wage, that installed self checkouts and replaced minimum wage jobs with automation .. Shoppers, Independent Grocer, Wal Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.
Don't need Torstar or Huff and Puff Post to tell me what I see every day.
Canadian Tire is the worst offender. I have a small one near me and often times the only cashier is at the customer service desk. I also noticed that the local shoppers must have had 20+ different cashiers and merchandisers working there where before they had many familiar faces. One of them was a total hottie, too!
 
There are people who make minimum wage, who advocate for higher minimum wage, who ALSO advocate for immediate futurization so that robots do all menial work.

How those people can grasp their own identity is beyond my comprehension.

I'm really glad I took a few macro and micro econ courses in college.
 
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