Brady: Ill. minimum wage of $8.25 an hour should match lower federal rate

Brady: Ill. minimum wage should match federal

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady said Friday he wants Illinois’ minimum wage to match the federal rate.

The senator from Bloomington would not commit to cutting the state rate — which will go to $8.25 an hour on Thursday — suggesting the federal level of $7.25 might go up and he would freeze Illinois’.

When asked if he would propose rolling it back to the federal level, Brady, who is facing Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn in the fall election, said, “I would support equaling, adopting the federal minimum wage, yes.”

Quinn has applauded the wage hike, saying earlier this week that he “fought hard to increase the minimum wage in our state.”

“It’s going to be a raise for a lot of hardworking people in our state,” Quinn said.

Brady said the minimum wage should be uniform across the nation so that states with lower rates don’t steal jobs away from Illinois.

“Illinois has got to be a competitive state to live, work and do business,” Brady said at a stop in Springfield. “The federal level is a competitive level, competing with neighboring states.”

Each state bordering Illinois has a minimum wage equal to the federal level, according to the Illinois Department of Labor.

Since 2007, the minimum wage in Illinois has increased 27 percent, from $6.50, after a Democratic-controlled Legislature and governor adopted a four-year process that upped the state wage by 25 cents each year. This year’s bump is the final step.