Illinois' Minimum Wage Set to Increase Again in 2022

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NBC Bay Area, File image

Illinois' minimum wage is set for another increase next year.

On Jan. 1, 2022 the state's minimum wage increases to $12 per hour.

The rate will continue to increase on Jan. 1 each year until it hits $15 per hour on Jan. 1, 2025.

In 2019, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation into law providing a path to increase Illinois' minimum wage rate to $15 per hour and $9 for tipped workers by 2025.

There have been three increases in the minimum wage since the legislation was signed in 2019.

During 2020, most residents saw two minimum wage increases -- first to $9.25 in January, then to $10 in July.

In Chicago, the minimum wage is already $15 an hour for employers that have 21 or more employees and $14 an hour for smaller businesses.

According to a study by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute at the University of Illinois in 2020, more than 1.4 million adult hourly workers in Illinois make less than $15 per hour.

The new minimum wage law also states that tipped employees can be paid 60 percent of the hourly minimum wage, but they must make the minimum wage limit after tips or their employer has to make up the difference.

Workers under the age of 18 who work fewer than 650 hours in a year will also earn a minimum wage of $9.25 per hour beginning Jan. 1. That rate will gradually increase to $13 an hour by 2025, according to the governor's office.

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