On December 2, 2014, the Chicago City Council voted 44 to 5 in favor of gradually raising the minimum wage to $13.00 per hour in the city to increase earnings for 410,000 Chicago workers. This report finds that in its first two years– when the minimum wage increased to $10.00 an hour and subsequently to $10.50 an hour– the Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance has already boosted incomes for at least 330,000 workers in the city. Overall, the higher minimum wage has been associated with an increase in worker incomes but little to no impact on employment or the number of private business establishments. An assessment of outcomes from 2010 through 2016 against both the Illinois suburbs, where the minimum wage remains $8.25 per hour, and the Indiana and Wisconsin suburbs of Chicago, where the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, reveals that the Chicago Minimum Wage Ordinance has largely achieved its intended purposes.
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN