Higher Minimum Wage Won’t Create Jobs

Gov. Pat Quinn’s claim that raising Illinois’ minimum wage by more than 20 percent will boost the economy and create jobs has been proven wrong on numerous occasions. Eighty-five percent of the most credible economic studies on the minimum wage from the last two decades point to job loss following a wage hike. And the hardest-hit demographic will be Illinois teenagers, who already face a 27 percent unemployment rate and one of the country’s highest state minimum wages.

Gov. Quinn is entitled to his opinion, but the facts are indisputable: Minimum wage increases harm the people they’re intended to help.

Michael Saltsman, research director, Employment Policies Institute