While all eyes are on the General Assembly for the developments for this year, we’re still dealing with a law passed several years ago raising the minimum wage.

Effective June 1, 2023, the minimum wage is now at $15 per hour.

Public Act 19-4 requires the minimum wage to increase five times over a five-year period, from the then-rate of $10.10 per hour to:

$11.00 on October 1, 2019;
$12.00 on September 1, 2020;
$13.00 on August 1, 2021;
$14.00 on July 1, 2022; and
$15.00 on June 1, 2023.

But effective January 1, 2024 — and each year thereafter — minimum wage is tied to the employment cost index, or its successor index, for wages and salaries for all civilian workers — as defined by the United States Department of Labor, as of June 30, 2023 (or each June 30th thereafter). I covered this in a post last year.

We’ll await that data later over the next few months to determine the exact amount. But for March 2023, the index was listed at 4.7%. If that holds up, it would be an increase of 70 cents or so in just seven months.

So employers, stay aware. The minimum wage is continuing to go up from here on out.