Should Illinois hike minimum wage above $10?

Lisette Barraza, left, hands a shopper her merchandise in a bag displaying the new store logo at a JCPenney store in the North Riverside Park Mall on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012, in North Riverside, Ill. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

SPRINGFIELD – A proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage is on lawmakers’ agenda again this year.

David Vite with the Illinois Retail Merchants Association said that could have a negative impact on jobs.

“The unemployment rate in Illinois is high enough, and the youth unemployment rate is one of the highest in the country, and I’m not sure we would want to do anything which would increase the number of people who don’t have jobs, which is precisely what an increase in the minimum wage would do,” Vite said.

Illinois has been hovering around a 10 percent unemployment rate for the past several months.

The state currently has the fourth highest minimum wage in the nation at $8.25 an hour. The proposal aims to boost the rate to $10.65 an hour in the next two years.

Bill sponsor state Sen. Kimberly Lightford said an increase is just what many families need to make it in this struggling economy.