Jobs killer: Chicago aldermen approve $13 minimum wage

Chicago's jobless rate regularly is higher than both the state and national unemployment rates. What the Chicago City Council did today, two months before they face voters who for the most part won't see the larger picture, will widen that divide.

From Fox Chicago:

Minimum wage workers in Chicago will be making $13 an hour in 2019 under a planapproved Tuesday by the City Council. The approved plan is a 57-percent hike over the current rate.

It's a huge political win for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, but some businesses warn the cost will be heavy.

"I will not be here by 2019. If it jumps to that we cannot afford that," said Bob Barthaler.

Marthaler owns Family Pride Foods, a small South Side grocery that employs about 40 people and sits right across the street from suburban Oak Lawn.

Chicago shoppers already have good reason to head to the suburbs to spend their cash--sales and gasoline taxes are lower there. Businesses will have no choice but to pass their higher labor costs on to consumers.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is expected to sign the jobs-killing bill into law. The current minimum wage in Illinois is $8.25 an hour.