Chicago's Minimum Wage Rises To $10 An Hour
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CHICAGO (CBS) -- Minimum wage earners in Chicago will begin seeing a bump in their paychecks this month.
The city's minimum wage rose more than 20 percent on Wednesday, in the first phase of a gradual rise to $13-an-hour by 2019.
The first increase hiked the wage from $8.25 to $10 per hour on Wednesday. It will go up each July after that – by 50 cents an hour in 2016 and 2017, and by $1 an hour in 2018 and 2019. After that, annual increases would be tied to the local consumer price index.
City officials have said the increase will affect about 200,000 workers in Chicago.
One of them is Bonita Wilson, who cleans CTA buses.
"It'll help a little. It could be better; $13, $15, I think … people with families, especially single parents, it would be a great asset," she said.
Another minimum wage worker said she's struggled to make ends meet earning only $8.25 an hour, and the extra $1.75 an hour should help make it easier to pay rent and buy groceries.
