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| Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker |
Single mothers struggle daily trying to keep a roof
over their family’s head, food on the table and provide the basic essentials. Some can barely
afford school supplies, clothes and shoes for their children. Young adults are
either homeless or living with parents, living with someone they know, or
renting a room from a stranger because they are not making two to three times
the rent or don’t have a co-signer. Parents can’t afford daycare or to enroll
their children in after school or summer programs due to high costs. Minimum
wage should at least be $12.00 an hour starting now for all workers to assure stability,
once low-wage workers make it out of poverty.
According to PayScale statistics, Illinois cost of living
is 23% higher than the national average, with 56% higher in housing, 10% lower
in utilities, 8% higher in groceries, 27% higher in transportation, and 1%
higher in health. As reported by Smart Asset, the cost of rent runs from $927
for a studio to $1,618 for a three-bedroom apartment, utilities with the
internet $191, transportation $105, and 6.25% in state taxes and 4% in local
taxes. Not to mention restaurant food and additional taxes, as well as,
miscellaneous expenses such as car notes and health insurance. Based on these
statistics the average worker is spending $2,964 at the most and $1,977 at the
minimum for rent/mortgage, utilities, transportation, cable/internet,
miscellaneous, and taxes.
As
part of ‘The Lifting Up Illinois’ Working Families Act’, on February 19, 2019
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a new law to increase Illinois minimum wage
from $8.25 to $9.25 for regular workers. The Illinois minimum wage rates will
increase in a series of seven adjustments beginning on July 1, 2020 when the
rates will increase to $10 for regular worker but remain at $8.00 for underage
workers. It won’t be until January 2021 minimum wage will increase for underage
workers from $8.00 to $8.50 and regular workers receive $11.00, Following that
year the minimum wage will increase by $1 until it reaches $15 in 2025. By then
a young worker can earn $13 an hour. Pritzker told reporters that anyone who puts
in a hard day’s work should be able to afford to put a roof over their head and
food on the table. He also stated that raising the minimum wage would lift
low-wage workers out of poverty, according to AP News.
Earning $10 an hour the average low-wage worker is only taking home $1600 a month before taxes, and the
underage worker takes an estimate of $1280, depending on the hours. A single
mother with one child would have to work two jobs just to make ends meet. A
father who is the breadwinner for his family would have to put in overtime and workdays
off jus to provide for his family. Underage workers who are underpaid should
receive the same minimum wage as regular workers. Although the numbers in teen
parents have declined, the teen pregnancy rate was at 17.4 in 2019. There was
an estimate of 2,018 teen mothers in Illinois between the ages of 15-17. Some
teen parents have their parents and other relatives to assist them, but they
still must provide for their child. Those who don’t have a support system have
to work much harder to take care of themselves and their child.
For
the first time in 10 years Illinois raised the minimum wage but is it enough to
low-wage workers to lift themselves out of poverty? Of course not, the cost of
living in Illinois is even higher now than it was a decade ago. In order to get
out of poverty, taxes need to decrease, and the minimum wage rate should be
where all Illinois workers can not just sustain but maintain.
Tamara M. Anderson
@mahoganymagazin
