Monday’s jump in the minimum wage is a mixed blessing—but not much more.

In one respect, it’s good to see NIU accepted to pay the optional increase in wages. It’d be unfortunate to discover that someone slaving over hot food in the residence hall cafeterias to help defray tuition is making less than some teenager at McDonald’s.

But the rise in minimum wage is mostly unfair and probably will work against itself.

Primarily, the increase doesn’t work across the board. For example, someone who began working at the university a while ago, put in some time and got a few raises will be left in the cold while a brand new worker takes home the same paycheck.

This directly hits those who worked their way up to $4.25 an hour, the new level for minimum wage. Their salaries will remain unchanged despite the increased amounts for those making less than $4.25 an hour.

That’s a pretty dandy kick in the pants to a worker who’s put in the hours for a raise or two. Employee morale might be fixing for a stumble if the “greenies” are taking home as much green as the vets.

In another light, hikes in minimum wage breed unemployment. In NIU’s case, paying out higher wages probably won’t be much of a problem and there’s usually more jobs than takers, but these are uncertain economic times.

Students and many blue collar workers shouldn’t be so ready to cheer their bigger paychecks. The ones they got last week were better than no paychecks at all.