Illinois state minimum wage reaches $15, but these workers can still be paid less
Illinois’ state minimum wage has reached $15 after seven increases since 2020, but not all employees in the Land of Lincoln are legally entitled to the wage.
Many residents are likely familiar with the tipped minimum wage, but minors working less than 650 hours per year and people with certain disabilities working under a 14(c) certificate also have lower minimum wages compared to the statewide standard.
Even the $15 minimum wage, which is higher than many states’, is not livable for one adult without children in Illinois, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator.
If you’re looking for a new job in Illinois, many state government jobs pay well above the minimum wage.
Here’s what to know about subminimum wages in Illinois.
Who can legally make less than minimum wage in Illinois?
Several demographics have minimum wages less than $15 in Illinois.
Employees with physical, intellectual, developmental or sensory disabilities can be paid a below minimum wage in Illinois if they work under a 14(c) certificate. The national average wage for employees who work under the certificate is approximately $3 an hour, according to Illinois’ Dignity in Pay Act.
The U.S. Department of Labor has an online table listing employers that have applied for 14(c) certificates, whether they’ve been issued or are still pending. As of Dec. 1, 2024, when the list was last updated, 62 Illinois employers have applied for 14(c) certificates.
However, the Dignity in Pay Act requires the 14(c) certificate program to be phased out by Monday, Dec. 31, 2029, so employers will no longer be able to pay employees previously working under the certificate a subminimum wage.
The Land of Lincoln also has a tipped minimum wage system where an employer can pay $9 per hour if they use a tip credit.
“Starting January 1, 2025, tipped employees must be paid minimum wage, but an employer may take credit for the employee’s tips in an amount not to exceed 40% of the wages,” the Illinois Department of Labor website says. “An employer may pay a training wage for tipped employees 18 and over in the amount of $9.00 for the first 90 days if applying the tip credit of 40% or $14.50 if not utilizing the tip credit. After 90 days, the rate must be increased to $15.00 if not utilizing the tip credit.”
The IDOL does not track the number of tipped employees in the state, spokesperson Paul Cicchini wrote in a Dec. 20 email to the News-Democrat.
The minimum wage for children younger than 18 years old who work less than 650 hours per calendar year is $13. Illinois’ child labor law was recently overhauled with new requirements for work permits, including a requirement for a school official issuing a work permit to consider the “health, welfare and education” of the child when evaluating an application.
There were 20,093 minor work permits issued in fiscal year 2023 in Illinois and 16,986 in fiscal year 2024, Cicchini said. The state does not track how many minors are paid a lower minimum wage.
Additionally, wages for incarcerated people are not under the jurisdiction of the IDOL, Cicchini said.
Illinois legislators filed a bill in 2021 that would have given people committed to the Department of Corrections or the Department of Juvenile Justice the right to be paid the standard minimum wage for labor done in the correctional industries program, on work release or in a work training program, but the bill died in 2023.
The state’s Unified Code of Corrections regulates pay for incarcerated people who are on work release, saying, in part, “A person on work release shall not be required to work for less than the prevailing wage or under worse than prevailing working conditions in the area.”
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