Raising the Minimum wage in the state of Illinois Essay

Raising the Minimum wage in the state of Illinois - Essay Example Most agree that employees who work full-time hours should be paid a wage sufficient so as to allow them to provide for their most essential needs which current minimum wage in Illinois does not accomplish. For workers in Mississippi, for example, $7.50 may be enough to subsist but the cost of living is substantially lower in Vicksburg than in Chicago. Opponents to further increasing the minimum wage in Illinois argue that prices to consumers will increase, workers will lose their jobs and the inflation rate will rise. This paper demonstrates that raising the minimum wage is practical for all concerned, workers, employers and the economy as a whole. It also reduces criminal activity and slows the adverse effects of outsourcing which ships American jobs overseas. The minimum wage law was established by the federal then some state government to assure that this ideal was a realization. The rationale behind a minimum wage, intended for the least skilled and educated persons in the workforce, is to raise their earnings in order to offset the forces that drive the market down which would otherwise reduce their buying power. The welfare system, workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance established by the 1930’s New Deal to provide assistance to the poor, in part, still exist today. The economic conditions of the time demanded that the solutions foster relations between the oppressive capitalist class and the working class. Labor unions lobbied for minimum wages and other worker benefits including employers’ liability laws, social reformers worked for maximum hours for women workers, factory inspections, child-labor laws, and anti-sweatshop laws† (Baker, 2003). Backed by the ‘New Dealers,’ these issue s were addressed on the federal level. Raising the minimum wage allows those who make minimum salaries to keep up with inflation. It will also help those that need it the