The Chicago Tribune has the numbers in this editorial on Illinois and minimum wage increases:
Remember, Illinois increased the state minimum wage four times in recent years, from $6.50 in 2006 to $7.50 in 2007 to $7.75 in 2008 to $8 in 2009 and to $8.25 in 2010. At the same time, Illinois' unemployment rate climbed — and the number of families living in extreme poverty grew.As the Wall Street Journal pointed out yesterday, Chicago has less jobs than in 1999. Some people never grasp that the demand for labor really is a downward sloping curve. Knowledgeable sources suggest that many Columbia University journalism majors have never seen the graph above in their entire stay at college. Along with sociology and history majors.
