Minimum Wage Workers In Illinois Get A Raise In 2020

ACROSS ILLINOIS — A new calendar year means a boost in the paychecks of minimum-wage American workers in more than 20 states, including Illinois, where new minimum wage standards take effect in 2020.

In February 2019, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law the first minimum wage increase in Illinois since 2010. In Illinois, the 2020 minimum wage rate of $9.25 an hour takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020. It will reach $15 in 2025. The tipped minimum wage for next year will be $5.55.

The federal minimum wage rate has remained unchanged at $7.25 an hour since 2009, but state legislatures — and, in some cases, voters themselves through ballot measures — have approved minimum wage increases. In some cases, counties and cities have set minimum wage floors.

The 21 states enacting minimum wage hikes are Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Vermont and Washington. The information was compiled by govdocs.com, a website that curates government documents on employment law for companies worldwide.

The highest of the new rates is in Washington State, where a 2016 voter-approved ballot initiative called for a $13.50 minimum wage floor in 2020, nearly twice the federal minimum wage. The Washington rate is up from $12 an hour in 2019. There is no provision in the law for tipped employees.

Several other states boosted minimum wage to $12 an hour, and several also increased the floor only modestly. For example, Florida’s minimum wage goes up less than 25 cents per hour, to $8.46, from $8.25 an hour in 2019.

The analysis showed widespread disparity in how minimum wage workers who are tipped are treated. In New Mexico, for example, the 2020 minimum wage for tipped employees is $2.35 an hour, compared with $9 and $8.98 an hour, respectively, in neighboring states Arizona and Colorado.