So ~£6.50 an hour. Our minimum wage is ~£6.20. All in all, thats cool for those in Chicago. Hope it catches on!

Would $10 really make you middle class? Or am I missing something?

You can't be serious.

It's better that the people who are working make enough money from their work to live on.

The suggestion that a company will be unable to employ as many people if they're forced to pay $10 an hour is just absurd. If companies do lay people off because of the raise in the minimum wage, then the fault lies with those companies - either their business model relies on paying peanuts to workers, or their business is poorly structured to begin with, or they're just plain greedy.

Also keep in mind that, by raising the minimum wage, you increase the ability of such employees to pay for things that aren't utter necessities, thus boosting the economy further, resulting in greater revenue, which enables companies to employ more workers.

The black-and-white attitude of so many people to such complex issues bugs the hell out of me. The world isn't so black-and-white, so linear. There is an optimum minimum wage value - it's some value that will maximise the results for everyone. Set it lower, and companies might be able to hire more workers, but those workers will be worse off, dragging down the economy. Set it higher, and it starts to negatively impact companies' bottom lines even after factoring in economic impacts.

It's kind of like taxes and spending - anybody who goes "taxes need to be reduced" is as much an idiot as someone who says "taxes need to be higher across the board". Things really aren't that simple.

Illinois isn't exactly a model state...

Don't assume that minimum wage increasing there will produce higher wages across the board either, let alone in other states.

Bad idea. It's already above Federal, why change? Cost of living in Illinois is barely above low.

Every time minimum wage goes up everything goes up. So I don't like this and i don't get why people are excited for this...

And how much money it takes for a wage to be livable it determined by the economy. Whatever moderate impact a small raise might have on the life of someone who makes minimum wage will be offset by the rise in the cost of living that results from the rise of the cost of labor. You can't simply legislate everyone out of wage slavery.

No one suggested that a company will be absolutely unable to employ as many people. Although some are bound to be unable to do so, it doesn't really matter which of the reasons you listed (or didn't list) are at play. It's merely a fact of life that unemployment will go up and it will be even harder for younger, less experienced workers to find jobs than it already is, and crying about greed isn't going to change this simple fact.

You also destroy earning power by making things cost more, so how much of an economic boost there really is is, at the very least, highly debatable. Especially since most people already make more than minimum wage, so they won't be getting a raise even as you're now driving up the cost of living.

And who decides that $10/hour or whatever is "optimal"? As always, the market decides this stuff way better than politicians, who are always hellbent on trying to fit a round peg into a square hole for political gain and/or to fit their ignorant worldviews.

Thats a start, but it should be higher, at least $12 an hour. The minimum wage should be a wage that people can live on, without requiring any welfare. A livable wage.

Yes there is, and when the government disrupts that it makes it impossible to achieve. some jobs have a lower requirements to work, are easier to do, and require less education. forcing companies to pay everyone the same means everyone better work the same, or those that dont will loose jobs. raising the minimun wage hurts those who lack education, drive, and experience more than anyone else. As they are priced out of the job market.

"Chicago Politicians..."
I stopped reading. We all know that all they do is get together and make ideas to troll us. That's what their job consists of, seriously!

It's already 9-something here in Washington state, so that's pretty nice :)