States With Highest Unemployment Rates Also States
With Highest Minimum Wages
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- State unemployment figures out today
show less-skilled workers in Illinois failing to reap the benefits of the
nation's job creation, according to the Employment Policies Institute (EPI).
In the month the nation's unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent, the Illinois
rate held steady at 6.7 percent. And yet while the Illinois unemployment rate
is the sixth highest in the nation, the state minimum wage is scheduled to
increase to 26 percent higher than the federal standard in two steps, starting
on January 1st.
The unemployment rate in Illinois is now 14 percent higher than the
national rate. Over 800,000 Illinois residents live in depressed areas where
the rate of unemployment stood between 9 and over 12 percent in 2002. These
areas of high local area unemployment include Rockford with an unemployment
rate of 10 percent, East Saint Louis with a rate of 12.2 percent, and North
Chicago, which had a rate of 11 percent.
Craig Garthwaite, chief economist at EPI, said:
"As the nation's job creation machine powers up, it is perhaps no
coincidence that the three states with the highest minimum wages in the nation
-- Oregon, Washington and Alaska -- are among the five states with the highest
unemployment rates in the nation.
"Illinois is not far behind with the sixth highest rate of unemployment
and yet it will soon have a state minimum wage 26 percent higher than the
federal minimum. It is a strong deterrent to hiring the state's most
vulnerable workers who do not possess the skills to be competitive in the job
market at the mandated wage.
"During the recession it was difficult enough for the most economically
vulnerable adults in Illinois to find work at the state minimum wage but even
now during the recovery they are failing to reap the benefits of their
counterparts in other parts of the nation."
The Employment Policies Institute is a nonprofit research organization
dedicated to studying public policy issues surrounding entry-level employment.
SOURCE Employment Policies Institute
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Related links:
http://www.epionline.org
CONTACT:
Barnaby Towns at +1-202-463-7650, for the
Employment Policies Institute
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