DeKALB | Supporting a family on minimum wage is often reason enough to take on a second job.

Next summer, workers on minimum wage will get some relief.

Deandre Walker, a DeKalb resident and McDonald’s employee, is overjoyed with the promised increase, and said getting paid $6.50 per hour on a bi-weekly pay period is “barely enough to live off of.”

“When I first heard about [the proposed increase] two weeks ago, I went straight to my manager and said, ‘We need that,'” Walker said.

Many other fast food employees feel the same and are thrilled about the increase.

Emilie Mann, a DeKalb resident and Wendy’s employee, makes five cents above the minimum wage after working at Wendy’s for the past six months. She said all Wendy’s employees start off at minimum wage. Mann was also excited about the proposed increase. “It’s great,” she said.

The minimum wage will increase by one dollar from $6.50 to $7.50 per hour on July 1, 2007.

The legislation will include annual increases for three years, to $7.75 in July 2008, $8.00 in July 2009 and $8.25 in 2010, according to a press release.

The bill passed in both the Illinois House and Senate last week, and Governor Rod Blagojevich’s approval is the final step.

Blagojevich’s press secretary Gerardo Cardenas said the governor will sign the bill “as soon as humanly possible.”

Blagojevich approved a minimum wage increase in 2003, raising the pay from $5.15 to $5.50 in 2004 and to $6.50 in 2005.

“People working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year earning minimum wage bring home just $13,000. That’s just not enough,” Blagojevich said in a press release. “Raising the minimum wage will make it a little easier for these families to get by.”

State Rep. Bob Pritchard (R-70th District) said a raise at the national level first may have been more beneficial.

“People were hoping it might be raised nationally before it would be at the state level,” Pritchard said. “It’s certainly a topic that has gotten a lot of attention nationally and here in Illinois. There is some concern in the business community. They don’t want Illinois to seem unattractive when other states have a lower wage.”

Not all believe the minimum wage needs to be raised.

“One of the arguments against it has been that it pushes up wages not just for those on the bottom, but also for those above them,” said public administration professor Irene Rubin. “There are many arguments against raising the minimum wage, but you can bet they are made by people making very much more money than $5 or $6 an hour.”