Two years ago, the governor of the State of Illinois, heralded his latest increase of the minimum wages in the state.  In fact, he created a schedule of increases over the next few years.  This was supposed to increase the standard of living for all.

On July 1st, Illinois' minimum wage rose to $7.75/hour.  The federal rate is $6.55, or a $1.20 difference. 

At first blush, this seems like a good idea, right?  Wrong.

The minimum wage is the entry point for most teen's summer jobs.  Whether flipping burgers, or working retail, the summer job is the first opportunity that a teenager has to work for an employer, and to develop any form of work ethic.

In Illinois, the increasing minimum wage has reduced the number of summer jobs available for teens.  As a result, many are spending their summer sleeping in, hanging out at the mall, or playing video games on the couch.  Those are the good ones.

These unemployed teens are also getting involved in alcohol and drugs as they try to fill their days of boredom.

That brings us to today.  The Governor of Illinois announced this spring a new $120 million program to encourage teen summer employment.  The program was created to get kids off the street and into jobs. 

So we raised the minimum wage by 18%, jobs fell away.  And now, we're going to spend $120 million to try to find those jobs back.

Assuming most summer jobs are 12 weeks long at 40 hours a week.  That same $120 million could have employed 38,000 teens across the state at $6.55 per hour. 

But why let business come up with a solution, when state government is so much more inept?