SPRINGFIELD – Minimum wage earners statewide will see a $1 per hour increase on Jan. 1 under a law spearheaded by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) that was signed in February to gradually increase Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 by January 2025.

“Many working families have waited for this increase for almost a decade,” Lightford said. “I stand firmly on the belief that workers deserve a decent wage and I am committed to standing with them as we continue the fight for a living wage.”

The next increases in the law will be implemented as follows:
• $10 per hour on July 1, 2020
• $11 per hour on Jan. 1, 2021
• $12 per hour on Jan. 1, 2022
• $13 per hour on Jan. 1, 2023
• $14 per hour on Jan. 1, 2024
• $15 per hour on and after Jan. 1, 2025

Illinois’ current minimum wage is $8.25 per hour. A single parent working a full-time minimum-wage job qualifies for food stamps, Medicaid and often housing assistance.

The measure also increases the minimum wage for individuals under the age of 18 but at a slower pace, going from $8 on Jan. 1, 2020 to $13 on Jan. 1, 2022.
Under Illinois law, workers who receive tips, like servers and delivery drivers, receive 60% of minimum wage and receive the rest in tips or are supplemented by their employer. That dynamic will mean the tipped wage would increase to $9 per hour by 2025.

Lightford is also responsible for the 2003 and 2006 laws that gradually increased the minimum wage from $5.15 to $8.25 per hour.